When Harry Met Charlie
by Brenna
Summary: Sequel to 'Unexpected Family.' Charlie's uncle Harry needs some help, but won't admit it.
1. Breakfast at Denny's

"They look good together, don't they?" Daniel asked Jacob as he nodded to the couple on the grass sitting on either side of J.J. 

"Daniel..." Jacob said with a warning tone of voice. 

Daniel, being Daniel, ignored it. "She wants you to be okay with this, Jacob" Daniel said. "And he'll never say it, but so does Jack." 

_**"Listen to Daniel, Jacob"**_ Selmak ordered his host. 

Jacob chose not to listen to his symbiote, saying instead "I've spent my entire adult life as a USAF officer, Daniel. I've lived my life by the rules and regulations." 

"So have they, Jacob" Daniel retorted. "They've obeyed the regs for nearly five years now, but it's time to stop pretending. They love each other, Jacob! Let them be happy." 

"What about the team, Daniel?" Jacob asked. "Can you be sure he won't sacrifice you or Teal'c to try to save her? Or she him?" 

"Yes," Daniel answered with quiet conviction. "Neither of them would sacrifice a mission either, Jacob. They've already proved that. He shot her to protect the base. You weren't there, Jacob. You didn't see. I thought we were going to lose him too." 

"Daniel..." Jacob once again warned the younger man trying to get him to drop the subject. He didn't want to hear about yet another incident that had nearly cost Sam her life. Sometimes he had enough problems dealing with the ones in which he'd been directly involved. 

"And when Jack was trapped on Edora," Daniel continued to argue. "We had to watch her like a hawk to make sure she didn't work herself into collapse. She did it anyway more than a few times. She wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep. She would have killed herself to get him home, Jacob." 

_**"You're finally mending your relationship with Sam and Mark,"**_ Selmak told his host adding his own weight to the argument. **_"Don't let this come between you. She deserves to be happy, Jacob. Jack makes her happy. They don't have forever like we do."_**

"Jacob, we've both lost our wives," Daniel said, "but at least we had some time together. How much worse is it going to be for one of them if something happens to the other. Never knowing what they could have had. Living with what might have been. We sacrifice enough, Jacob. Not this. They deserve this." 

"Alright, Daniel" Jacob conceded. "I'll think about what you've said." 

Jacob watched from his seat on the back porch as Jack rose from his position on the grass then reached down to help Sam to her feet as well. He then reached down again and picked up a sleeping J.J. to carry him inside to bed. The change in position was enough to wake the toddler though. J.J. protested loudly about going to bed, but in the end he settled into his grandfather's arms after making his grandma Sam promise to come with them to tell him a bedtime story. Jacob had to admit that in that moment as they walked together into the house, they looked like they were meant to be together. 

Twenty minutes later when Jack and Sam still hadn't returned from upstairs, Jacob decided to go investigate. 

_**'Jacob,'** _Selmak scolded his host. _ '**Leave them alone. They're grown adults.'**_

**_'I just want to see if something's wrong with J.J.'_** Jacob argued as he climbed the staircase. 

**_'I doubt they need help putting a toddler to bed,' _**Selmak told him with a mental snicker. 

A door at the end of the hallway was slightly cracked and Jacob could hear J.J.'s voice from inside the room. He approached the door quietly and peeked inside. The sight that greeted him made him want to laugh and cry at the same time. Selmak had no such trouble deciding however as he howled with mental laughter. Jacob kept his own laughter under control as he snuck quickly back downstairs in search of the others and a camera. A few minutes later with everyone else in tow he headed back upstairs with Jack's camera in one hand. He gently pushed the door open a bit wider so that the others could see inside as well. There were smiles on everyone's faces at what they saw. 

Jacob lifted the camera to his face and aimed it at the bed along the far wall. He waited for the perfect moment then depressed the button. The flash of the camera startled J.J. into looking up from where he was 'reading' a book to himself. When he saw the rest of his family standing in the doorway he gave them a big smile then placed a finger to his lips. "Ssshh...Gamma and Pappa is sweeping," he explained in a loud whisper from his position between the two dozing adults. "Gamma Sawa, will woo finish my stowy?" he asked as he held up the book in his hands. "Gamma and Pappa goed to sweep befowe de end." 

"I see that, J.J." she said as she controlled her laughter with difficulty. "Jacob, I want a copy of that picture," she said.

"Oh, I think we **_all _**want a copy," Daniel agreed as his laughter finally broke free. Like a dam bursting it was enough to set the others off as well. J.J. didn't know what was so funny, but he laughed right along with the adults. 

The sound was enough to wake Jack and Sam from their sleep though. They were both instantly alert upon waking though confused as to what was going on. "Wha?" Jack asked as he sat up on the bed.

"Woo goed to sweep, Pappa" J.J. explained as he patted his grandfather's hand. "Awe woo goin' to finish my stowy now, Gamma?"

"Uhh, sure J.J." Sam replied as she too sat up and ran one hand through her hair. Looking at Jack, she noticed he was blushing almost as much as she was at being caught asleep. It was then that she noticed the camera in her father's hand. "Dad?" she asked. "What's the camera for?"

"You didn't really expect me to not take a picture?" he asked.

Sam covered her face with her hands as she groaned. "Please, God" she said. "Please don't let that picture make its way on base."

"Don't you think George would like to see it?" Jacob teased them. "J.J. how about you let me finish that story?" Jacob asked. "Grandma's tired."

"I'm fine, Dad" Sam assured him.

"You're tired, Sam" Jacob argued. "Let Jack drive you home," Jacob said as he looked both of them in the eye in turn. "I'm going to stay here, read J.J. his story, and get to know Charlie better. Let Jack take you home."

"Dad?" Sam asked unsure of just what her father was really saying.

"Charlie and I'll make breakfast when you get here in the morning," Jacob said as he gave Sam a kiss on the cheek. He tightened his hold on her for a moment, knowing he had to let her go. 

"Right," Jack agreed though his expression was a little dazed at being given Jacob's tacit approval. He let Sam grab his hand and lead him down the stairs leaving the others standing in J.J.'s bedroom staring after them.

"Well, Grandpa, if we're going to make breakfast in the morning," Charlie said to break the silent tension in the room, "the first thing you should know about me is that I cook worse than my dad."

Those that had been subjected to Jack O'Neill's cooking in the past winced visibly.

"I suggest going to Denny's, Jacob" Mike told him with an almost entirely straight face.

Daniel and Teal'c both nodded emphatically. 

* * *

When they finally reached his house the next morning, Jack and Sam found a note taped to the door. "J.J. was hungry. Meet us at Denny's. Dad," Sam read the note to him with a glare.

"Why am I in trouble?" Jack complained. "What did I do?"

"Oh, I don't know, Mr. 'I'm already up'. Why are we so late?" Sam retorted though she had trouble keeping the angry expression on her face from slipping into a satisfied smirk.

Jack of course, didn't even attempt to keep the smirk from his face as he lead her back to his truck. "Hey, there were two of us in that bed," he reminded her. 

Within minutes they arrived at the restaurant. After telling the hostess they were meeting their party they wandered around until they found the table they were looking for at the back. Charlie, Jacob, and the kids weren't alone however.

"What? Did no one go home last night?" Jack asked as he took one of the two empty seats at the large table.

"Just you and Sam," Daniel replied from his seat between Cassie and Janet. His eyes twinkled with laughter as his friends blushed under the knowing looks of the rest of the family. 

"So what did the two of you do last night?" Sara asked then laughed as Jack and Sam looked at each other with matching grins. "Never mind. I think we can all guess."

Jacob saw Sam looking at him questioningly and decided to put her fears to rest. He leaned over to whisper in her ear, "You've never looked happier, princess. Don't let him get away now."

Sam smiled then leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Not a chance."

Jacob laughed and kissed her cheek.

Jack looked at them suspiciously. He had some idea he was the topic of their whispered conversation, but he had no chance to ask about it as the waitress came to take their order. _'No problem,' _he thought. _'I'll just get it out of her later.'_

"Charlie," Cassie began cautiously. "Mom and I talked some last night, and I've got a suggestion about the kids."

"What's that?" Charlie asked as he snuck a quick glance at Janet, but she had carefully schooled her expression.

"School's out in three weeks," Cassie said. "And I'd like to take care of the kids over the summer."

"Cassie..." Charlie began.

"Don't give me any crap about 'I should be having fun with my friends.'" she warned him. "My friends are all getting jobs for the summer. Any fun we'll be having is going to be limited to evenings and weekends most of the time anyway. You don't have a lot of money right now, Charlie."

"Money's not a problem," Jack objected.

"Yes, I know. Everyone sitting at this table will help with that," Cassie interrupted him. "But this is something I can do. I want to spend time with J.J. and Samantha."

"What do you think of this, Janet?" Charlie asked. 

"It's alright with me," she said. "Cassie's mature enough to handle it."

"I was babysitting kids over the summer when I was her age," Sam agreed. "She'll have people she can call if there are problems."

"Do you really want to put them in day care?" Sara asked pressing the advantage for the younger woman. 

Charlie grimaced recognizing that the women had closed ranks on him on this subject. He hated the idea of putting either of the kids in day care so soon, but he hadn't seen a way around it until Cassie made her offer. "J.J. how would you like Aunt Cassie to take care of you and Samantha while Daddy works?" he asked his son.

J.J. smiled a syrup covered grin and nodded as he stuffed another piece of French toast into his mouth.

"Okay," Charlie finally agreed before turning the conversation to other subjects. "Dad, I need to borrow the truck after we get done here, and I need someone to watch the kids."

"Why?" Jack asked.

"Cause I could really use some civvies that aren't borrowed," he explained.

Jack's eyes narrowed as he looked at what Charlie was wearing. "I thought that looked familiar," he agreed as he fished the keys out of his pocket and handed them to his son.

"Can I go with you, Charlie?" Cassie asked. "I need to get some stuff from the mall as well. You can drop me home later."

Charlie looked questioningly at Janet who nodded. Cassie just rolled her eyes deciding that it wasn't worth the effort to be angry at him for asking permission. She knew that even though she and Charlie had come to an understanding about their relationship (or current lack of one), their parents still worried about them. This was Charlie's way of reassuring Janet that he knew Cassie was still a teenager and under her mother's watchful care.

"I don't suppose I can bum a ride with you as well, son?" Jacob asked. "I want to pick up some stuff too. I've finally convinced Selmak that it won't diminish our standing among the Tok'ra if we wear jeans and a t-shirt now and then."


	2. Trip to the Mall

"Meet back here in three hours?" Jacob suggested as the three shoppers stood in the entrance to the mall.

"Sounds good to me," Charlie agreed.

Jacob waved then headed off in the direction of the nearest department store.

"I'm just going to tag along with you for now," Cassie said before admitting. "I really don't need anything. I just didn't want to spend the day at home."

Charlie smiled at her. "Okay," he agreed offering her his hand. They wandered through several stores before Cassie saw something she wanted to try on in the window of one of the trendier boutiques. He attempted to make his escape into the electronics store next door while she looked, but Cassie wouldn't let him. She insisted she needed his opinion on how she looked in the outfit. So Charlie followed her into the store and stood waiting as she perused the racks.

"Captain O'Neill," a familiar voice greeted him from behind. 

Charlie didn't turn around as he greeted the man behind him, "Harry. Aren't you taking quite a chance?"

"I'm in disguise," he was told in a sarcastic tone of voice.

Charlie casually turned around to face the older man. "What do you need, Uncle Harry?" he asked.

"Uncle Harry?" Maybourne asked. "The files you brought with you..."

"Were doctored to remove any trace of you," Charlie told him. 

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Because I know what's really going on with you, Uncle Harry" Charlie said. "You're walking a fine line."

"I've got good balance," Harry quipped flashing Charlie a sardonic beard-covered smile.

"Yes you do," Charlie agreed. "The wind's going to get stronger though. Be careful it doesn't knock you off your feet," he warned. 

"They're showing quite an interest in you, Captain" Harry warned the young man in return.

Charlie opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he saw Cassie coming towards them out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you think, Charlie?" she asked turning for him.

"I like it," Charlie assured her. "But you know what, I think you should try that on too," he told her pointing to another outfit displayed farther back in the store. "I'll wait."

Cassie eyed him carefully then shifted her gaze to the older man he had been speaking to. Harry turned from her casually, but not casually enough for Cassie to miss the fact that something was going on. "Okay," she agreed slowly, but the look she gave Charlie warned him that she would want to talk later.

After she was out of earshot Charlie responded to Harry's statement. "I'm Jack O'Neill's son, Uncle Harry" he reminded the other man. "I've got pretty good balance myself." 

"Yeah," Harry said acknowledging the meaning behind those words. Charlie's instincts were just as good as his father's. He already knew about their interest in him.

"You need to come in, Harry" Charlie told the older man. "You don't have to do it this way. I can help."

"I don't need help, Captain" Harry said dismissing his offer.

"It's Charlie, Uncle Harry," he told the older man. Charlie took a piece of paper and a pen from the pocket of his borrowed jacket. "And nevertheless," he said as he scribbled on the paper. "Here."

"What's this?" Maybourne asked as he took the paper from Charlie's hand.

"A starting point for what you've been looking for," Charlie answered. "Take a message back to them for me. Tell them not to come near my family. They want me they're welcome to try, but my family is off limits."

"They're not going to listen to me," Harry told him.

"They'd better," Charlie warned. The look in his eyes was chilling even for Maybourne. "Tell them not to make the mistake of thinking I'm my father. Dad's got more scruples than I do. Me? I'm not above wallowing in the mud to protect my family."

"Thanks for the information," Harry told the younger man.

"I'll be ready when you need me, _** Uncle**_ Harry" Charlie told him stressing the familial title in his statement. Before he could say anything else he noticed Cassie making her way back to them in another outfit.

Harry nodded then turned and walked away. Within seconds he'd melted into the crowd of shoppers.

"What was that about, Charlie?" Cassie demanded.

"That looks good on you too," he told her. Sending her a look he knew she would interpret correctly as 'not here.'

Cassie nodded to both his verbal and visual messages. "I think I'll buy this one too," she said. The look she gave him clearly saying that they would talk later or else.

Charlie nodded and led her to the counter to pay. They were both able to put the encounter out of their minds as they continued their shopping. Charlie picked up enough civilian clothes to tide him over for a few paychecks, and Cassie helped him pick out a few outfits in a larger size for baby Samantha who was already outgrowing the newborn clothing her grandmothers had bought her. Cassie was curious about some of the other things he purchased, but made no comment as they made their way to where they were to meet Jacob. When they got to the meeting place, he was already there carrying almost as many bags as Charlie and Cassie. 

"Well, I see I wasn't the only one to wear out my credit cards," he quipped upon seeing them coming towards him. They put their bags in the bed of Jack's truck and covered them up before climbing in for the drive back to Jack's house. "So Charlie," Jacob asked once they were on the way, "who was that man I saw you talking to?" 

"Just some man waiting on his daughter," Charlie explained in a blasé fashion.

"You know I'm not going to buy that, son" Jacob told him. "If you don't tell me what's going on I'm going to have to tell someone. Your dad for instance."

"Even if Jacob would buy it, there's no way you're going to get me to believe it," Cassie told him.

Charlie sighed. "I'll explain it to everyone when we get back to the house," he promised them. "Grandpa, you'd better call General Hammond and have him meet us there. Try to keep it under the radar," he requested as he handed the older man one of his purchases, a new cell phone. "And I need him to bring something from the lab with him." 

As they carried their purchases into the O'Neill home twenty minutes later, they were immediately greeted by the adult members of the family.

"Where are the kids?" Charlie asked when J.J. didn't immediately appear asking what his daddy had bought him.

"J.J.'s taking a nap," Sam told him as she walked into the living room carrying her namesake.

"What's going on?" Jack asked.

Chuck and Charlie shared a telling look. Chuck said, "Give me a second to sweep up this mess, Jack. I don't want to miss what Charlie has to say." As he said the word sweep Chuck pointed to his ear and gave the others a hard stare. He threw something to Charlie which the younger man caught.

After flipping a switch on the device, Charlie began walking around the room with it. "Cassie, show them the outfits we bought Samantha," Charlie ordered. 

She nodded her understanding and covered his search with teenage chatter about clothes. The others made appropriate comments as well as they watched Charlie search. Within minutes he had found a small device attached to the back of the frame displaying his father's purple heart. The anger that flashed in Jack O'Neill's eyes was reflected to a lesser extent by all those around him. Charlie could tell by the expression on his face that Jack intended to smash the thing into as many pieces as he possibly could, but Charlie held up his hand forestalling his father's action. Jack nodded though anger still seethed from him. He'd see what Charlie had in mind. They watched as Charlie went into the kitchen as he shouted that the game was about to start. He returned a moment later with an open beer in his hand. Charlie was aware that everyone was looking at him like he'd lost his mind but just smiled in response. 

"So are we going to watch the game?" he asked as he set the beer down next to the frame with a loud thunk.

"I guess," Jack said playing along. "Which one were you thinking of?"

"Let me check the TV guide," he said deliberately knocking over both the frame and the beer. "Damn, Dad. I'm sorry. I'm getting beer all over your purple heart!"

"It's okay, Charlie" Jack told his son with a knowing smile. "It was an accident."

Charlie picked up the beer bottle and dumped a liberal amount on the small listening device. He then scanned it again before saying, "That's got it."

"That was pretty smooth, son" Jack told him admiringly. 

"I've...ahh...I've had some practice," he admitted.

"We could tell," Sam told him. "So what the **_Hell_** is going on."

It was Jacob who answered. "I saw Charlie having a casual conversation with a man at the mall while he and Cassie were shopping. It was a little too casual," Jacob told them. "When I asked him about it..."

"He didn't buy my story," Charlie said. 

"Like I would have believed you anyway," Cassie mumbled from where she sat on the couch. "Who was that Charlie?"

"Uncle Harry," Charlie replied as his gaze met Chuck's across the room.

"_**Harry?**_" his father questioned in astonishment. "Harry**_ Maybourne_**? **_Uncle _**Harry Maybourne?"

"This explanation's going to be harder than I thought," Charlie sighed as he sank into one of the arm chairs in the living room and took a large sip of what remained of his beer. He took a deep breath and began.

"Are you nuts?" Jack yelled thirty minutes later. "You falsified records? Besides Harry what else did you falsify?"

"We didn't have to bring _**anything**_ through, Dad" Charlie argued with his father.

"What else?" Jack asked again in a deadly quiet voice.

"Some of my records," Charlie admitted. "Other things that dealt with the NID."

"Your records?" Sara asked. "Why your records?"

"I...ahh..."

"Spit it out, son" Hammond ordered from his seat opposite Charlie in the second arm chair.

"Let's just say, General, that when I was at MIT Uncle Sam had me doing some work on top of my studies," Charlie answered.

"What kind of work?" Jack asked. Sam touched his arm gently trying to get him to get his anger under control.

"It was black," Charlie said by way of explanation without really explaining anything at all.

"How black?" Jack demanded.

"Nothing you haven't done," Charlie told his father.

"Wet work?" Jack asked his son as a muscle twitched in his cheek. This was the angriest anyone had ever seen him. Sam looped her arm around his to restrain him as best she could if it became necessary.

"A few times," Charlie answered looking his father in the eye.

"What?" Jack whispered in shock. It shouldn't have shocked him this much to hear Charlie admit to doing the same sort of work he himself had done, but it did. Somehow it seemed wrong that his government would ask such a thing of his son. He knew Charlie had killed in his time in the military, but he hadn't let himself even contemplate what Charlie was implying.

"We need to put that aside for now, Colonel" Hammond ordered before the discussion could get truly sidetracked. "Explain why you hid this information, Captain?" Hammond asked using Charlie's rank instead of his name leaving no doubt it was General Hammond his commanding officer speaking and not Uncle George who used to take him for ice cream as a boy.

"General, the SGC has more leaks than the Titanic," Chuck Guarnere told them before Charlie could answer. "If we hadn't hidden what we did, Harry would have been dead by now. And so would Charlie. We couldn't take the chance of telling anyone until we'd gotten the lay of the land. Figured out who the players are."

"Bullshit!" Jack argued.

"Christ, Dad!" Charlie swore at Jack with an anger that matched his father's. "I have the kids to think about. They're already in enough danger without the NID knowing..."

"Knowing what?" Hammond demanded as Charlie trailed off into silence.

"Charlie brought down the NID in our timeline," Chuck explained quietly. "Working with Harry."

"If the NID finds out how much I know about them already," Charlie warned leaving the rest unsaid.

"They'll kill you," Daniel finished the statement.

"In a heartbeat," Charlie agreed. "They're already after me. Right now they just want to turn me. Get me to work for them, but if they find out about this other stuff. About how dangerous I could be to them."

"I assume you have a plan, son?" Jacob asked. 

"Yeah," Charlie replied with a grin so like his father's it was uncanny. 


	3. The Olive Branch

Sensing someone quietly entering the room, Charlie looked up from the computer screen in front of him. For a moment he was startled to find his father standing before him. It had been over a month since the incident with Harry at the mall. The first week, his father had made himself conspicuously absent from the house. He'd stayed with Sam until J.J. had innocently asked him if he was going away forever. Things had remained cool between father and son, but Jack had returned to the house for his grandson's sake knowing J.J. still harbored the fear that his grandparents were going to be taken away. The tension was still there though, and it hadn't gone unnoticed by General Hammond when Charlie had reported for duty a couple weeks later. SG-1 had pulled a week long mission off-world during which Jack and Charlie had been ordered to cool their heads. The general expected them to work it out upon SG-1's return or they'd be seeing McKenzie. 

Charlie sighed quietly. SG-1 was back, and apparently his father had decided to talk it out before the general made good on his threat. "Time to talk?" Charlie asked.

Jack shut the door behind him and turned a chair around to straddle it. "Yeah," he agreed.

Charlie nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry I didn't tell you," he apologized. "I just...you didn't handle it well the last time. **_We_** didn't handle it well the last time."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked as he cocked his head to the side. 

"You didn't know about what I did while I was at MIT for several years," Charlie said. "When you found out, we didn't talk for a long time. I guess, I just hoped you wouldn't have to find out this time."

"But we did mend our fences?" Jack asked in spite of himself.

"Yeah, when J.J. was born," Charlie said looking his father in the eye and smiling slightly in remembrance. "I realized why you were mad when I held J.J. that first time. All the things we do, the things we can't talk about. The things we never want to talk or even think about. I never want J.J. to have to do the things I've done. That's my job. It's my job to make a better world for him. I realized you feel the same way about me. I'm not supposed to have to do those things. That's your job." Charlie met his father's eyes with eyes that shone with tears. "You...he said he realized that I was a father myself now. A grown man who needed to make the world a better place for my own son," Charlie told his father. "It's my job too now."

"He raised a fine man," Jack said extending the olive branch.

"He set a good example," Charlie replied as he accepted it.

And that was all that was said. All they needed to say. "So how's it goin'?" Jack asked pointing to the computer Charlie had been working on when he'd entered the room.

"Well...Mom's not going to be happy," Charlie said accepting the change of subject. "I found four places where the NID was getting into the mainframe. I've closed off three of them, but left the fourth open. I also closed off another half dozen places where someone could possibly get into the system."

"Why leave one open?" Jack asked slowly.

"I'm logging what they're accessing," Charlie said. "Better to know what they do and be prepared. If I shut them off completely they might find another way in. One I might not find right away. Besides we can use it to our advantage."

"Ohhh..." Jack drawled clearly intrigued. "Do tell."

"This fourth point of entry leads to the most heavily classified information, but it can't be accessed from off-base," Charlie explained. "Whoever's using it is inside."

"Mole hunt," Jack said catching on immediately to what Charlie planned. He hesitated a moment before finally asking, "You called him Uncle Harry."

Charlie looked startled for a moment at this sudden turn in their conversation. "Yeah. I know Chuck told you about the NID kidnapping me and Cassie and the others," Charlie said.

"Harry had something to do with that?" Jack asked angrily.

"Not the way you mean," Charlie assured him. "Think about it, Dad. He could have gotten away from you at any time when you got him out of jail to help the general. He came when you called when Conrad kidnapped Mom, and then there was Uncle Teal'c's little adventure recently."

Jack pulled thoughtfully at his lower lip as he mulled over what Charlie was saying. "Details," he demanded finally.

"Harry's younger brother got recruited into the NID," Charlie explained. "He disappeared about the time Harry joined them."

"Not a coincidence I take it," Jack said.

"No, they never found a body, but..." Charlie said. "I gave him a place to start looking for the evidence he'll need."

"So you want to help Harry get revenge?" Jack asked. "Is that why you're doing this?"

"No, we're back to the kidnapping for that," Charlie admitted as his eyes focused somewhere in the past. "Harry found out where they were holding us before you did. He got a message out to the SGC and then went in himself. He couldn't get all of us out by himself so he barricaded us in and held them off until help came. He held them off for three hours, Dad. He was hit three times, but he didn't give in," Charlie explained. His focus returned to the present and he turned his dark brown gaze on his father as he said, "I owe him my life, Dad. Afterward we found the evidence to clear him. He wasn't exactly welcomed back into the Air Force with open arms, but General Hammond brought him back as head of base security. He locked down the Mountain tighter than a virgin in her chastity belt."

Jack chuckled at the imagery then sighed before saying, "I owe him more than just your life. Uncle Harry it is."

Charlie smiled knowing that his father had just committed himself to helping Harry as well. He looked at the clock on the wall and swore. "I've got to get ready or Major Walsh will have my hide," Charlie said as he began shutting down the computer and locking up his materials. "Dad, when are you planning to get home tonight?"

"I'm on my way out now," he replied. 

"Great," Charlie said. "Can you call Cassie and let her know? She's taking an AP class and it meets tonight at seven. I promised I'd have someone at the house to take over with the kids by six."

Jack checked his own watch before he assured Charlie, "I should just make it. Why's she taking this class anyway?" he asked as he lent Charlie a hand by flicking the lights off in the lab before following him out the door.

Charlie blushed before answering, "She wants to graduate early."

"And why is that making you blush?" Jack teased his son.

"She wants early entrance into the academy," Charlie explained as the blush continued to spread across his face. "She thinks she's in love with me. I shot her down, but I didn't want to hurt her too badly. So I promised that we'd go on a date when she graduated the academy if she still wanted me, but she had to promise to date until then."

"I hate to tell you this Charlie, but I don't think she's going to change her mind," Jack said.

"I'm not sure I want her to," Charlie admitted quietly.

Jack said nothing for a moment but laid his hand on Charlie's shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze. "You going out with SG-8 to P..." he said after a moment.

Charlie chuckled knowing how much his father hated the alpha-numeric codes assigned to the planets they visited. "P1R-932," he supplied as he turned off the lights in the lab he was currently sharing with his stepmother and led his father towards the locker room. "Yeah, it's called L'tarja."

"Kaw...Guarnere," Jack corrected himself, "said you knew the culture there pretty well."

Charlie glanced over at his father as they walked. "I spent some time there with Granddad," he explained. "After the kidnapping, you and Mom agreed to let him take me for the summer. The crown prince was about my age. We got to be friends."

"Crown prince huh?" Jack said with a smirk.

"Yeah....ahh," Charlie stuttered.

"Something else you forgot to mention?" Jack guessed.

Charlie tried to hide his blush as he turned his shoulder into the door to the locker room. "You missed the explanation because of your mission. Suzerain Kentar made it a point in the treaty between the Tau'ri and the L'tarja that I become a member of the royal guard," he explained. "The tattoo on my back marks me as one of the Suzerain's personal guard."

"So that's why Chuck suggested you go along? What if they think it's a fake?" Jack demanded. "What if it's not the same Suzerain?"

"It can't be faked," Charlie explained. "It's keyed to the royal family's DNA. It's an odd society, Dad. They're even more advanced technologically than the Nox, but their culture is like something out of Camelot. Full of codes of honor and quests."

"So they'll be good allies?" Jack questioned. "Protectors of the weak and all that."

"You know that saying 'if you give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he'll eat for a lifetime'?" Charlie asked.

"Not that I don't love fishing Charlie, but what's that got to do with this discussion?" Jack asked his son seriously.

"They won't give us a fish, but they'll teach us _**to**_ fish," Charlie said as he pulled out a fresh set of BDUs. "They won't give us much technology at all, but what they will do is teach our scientists the theoretical science that makes it possible so that we can develop our own practical applications. They'll sort of mentor us."

"That's great, but it's not going to satisfy the brass," Jack predicted.

Charlie nodded as he said, "We'll just have to see how persuasive I can be."

"Have fun storming the castle," Jack said as he lightly slapped Charlie on the back. Jack lifted his hand in a casual wave as he walked out of the locker room. Charlie laughed to himself at his father's joke before grabbing a towel and heading to the showers. He smiled knowing his father was trying very hard to control his paternal protectiveness. 


	4. The Offer

Charlie followed Major Walsh up the ramp and into the liquid blue pool of energy created by the Stargate. When he emerged on the other side he immediately took a few deep breaths to settle his stomach. He looked around the room into which they'd emerged and noted that nothing seemed to be different from his own timeline.

"Sir!" Airman Anatolli called drawing their attention to the guards filing quickly filing into the room. 

"Keep your weapons down," Charlie hissed. "Nonchalant, gentlemen."

"Captain, I believe these oak leaves on my shoulder mean I outrank you," Walsh warned. 

"Sir, I was sent along because I know the culture," Charlie reminded his superior officer. 

"We'll play it your way for now, Captain" Walsh decided as the native guards made no aggressive move toward their group. The major gestured to Charlie as he said, "We're here to meet and greet, Captain."

Charlie scanned over the group arrayed in front of them for a minute before he found who he was looking for. He strode forward with a confidence that couldn't be feigned. Stopping in front of the men, he bowed down on one knee and lowered his head. "Lord Captain Gabryl, I bring greetings from General Hammond of the Tau'ri to His Majesty, Suzerain Kentar of L'tarja," Charlie proclaimed loudly.

"Who are you?" the man Charlie had identified asked. "You greet me by name, and yet I know you not. You claim to be of the Tau'ri, but all know that the home world has been lost for many millenia."

"I have a tale to tell you, my Lord Captain. Will you listen?" Charlie asked as he continued to kneel with his head downcast. The members of SG-8 held their collective breath as Charlie continued to kneel in that vulnerable position in front of the other man. 

Finally the L'tarjan captain responded, "I will listen." He placed a hand on each of Charlie's shoulders in a silent command to rise. 

With an eloquence the others from Earth could only marvel at Charlie described the destruction of his Earth and the desperate journey through their jury-rigged Stargate to the safety of this Earth. He then told of meeting the L'tarjans in his own timeline and the treaty between their two peoples and his part in it.

"Do you have proof what you say is true?" Gabryl asked.

Charlie slung his P90 over his back and unbuttoned the cuff of his jacket. He began rolling up the sleeve. "The only proof I have is this," he said displaying the tattoo on his arm. 

Gabryl stepped forward and clasped arms with Charlie. There was no visible sign the Earth soldiers could see, but both Gabryl and Charlie reacted as the matching tattoo on Gabryl's arm made contact with Charlie's arm. "Welcome, my lord...." Gabryl said as he withdrew his hand.

"Charlie O'Neill," he supplied. "And I am no lord. Only a captain. On Tau'ri where I was born, we are all born equal. Rank and title must be earned."

Gabryl nodded. "Very well, Captain. I will take you to Suzerain Kentar," he said before turning.

Once the introductions were complete and Charlie had repeated his story for the Suzerain, he gladly handed the task of negotiating over to Major Walsh. He wandered away from the others hoping to find a quiet corner where he could have a few moments of privacy to sort through the emotional memories this mission had brought back to the surface.

"Captain O'Neill," a vaguely familiar voice called softly from behind him.

He turned around to find that Lieutenant Marcus Granger had followed him.

"Something I can do for you, Granger?" Charlie asked curtly annoyed at having his desire for a private moment thwarted.

"I've been ordered to make you an offer, Captain" Granger told him quietly.

Charlie cursed himself silently at being caught off-guard. However, he carefully controlled the expression on his face into one of mild interest. "An offer from whom?" he asked.

"Who isn't important," Granger said. "What they can do for you is."

"I beg to differ, Lieutenant" Charlie said calmly. "Who is always important."

Granger grimaced before reluctantly admitting, "I work for the NID."

"NID," Charlie pretended to consider. "My father tells me they're not to be trusted."

"And you always do what Daddy says?" Granger sneered.

Charlie turned a lazy smile on the NID agent. "Not always, but so far I've seen nothing to contradict his assessment," he said. "If you could be trusted there'd be no need for this clandestine meeting where I presume you're to make me an offer I shouldn't refuse."

Granger's eyes narrowed as he decided to try a different tactic to gain Charlie's cooperation. "You have a beautiful little girl, Captain" he said. The calm detachment in his voice clued Charlie into just what he was really saying. "We want your cooperation, Captain, and we'll do whatever's necessary to get it," Lt. Granger threatened.

"I don't take well to threats," Charlie warned. "You want to come after me. Go for it. You come near my family, and you'd better hope I'm dead. Because if not, I promise you _**will**_ be. I'll come after the whole damn NID. Starting with _**you,**_ lieutenant," he threatened punching his index finger into the other man's chest.

"We'll speak again, Captain O'Neill" Granger spit out before he walked away.

"He means to harm you," Captain Gabryl warned as he stepped out of the shadows to stand next to Charlie.

"I noticed," Charlie assured the other soldier.

"What do you intend to do about it?" the older man asked.

"Play the game the best I can with the cards I'm dealt," Charlie said. "But play it by my rules, and play to win."

Gabryl nodded. "I do not know what these cards have to do with the threats he made, but I hope you play well," he said.

"I play very well," Charlie assured him with a smile. "You were one of my teachers, after all."

Gabryl threw back his head and laughed. Slapping Charlie on the back he led the younger man back to the main group.

Five hours later when Charlie stepped onto the ramp upon his return to Earth, he was surprised to see his mother Sara standing next to General Hammond in the control room window. 

"Welcome home, people" Hammond said into the microphone. "Who is our guest?" he asked.

Anatolli passed the task of making introductions to Charlie with a jerk of his head. "General Hammond of Tau'ri," Charlie said. "May I present Lord Captain Gabryl of L'Tarja. He's here on behalf of Suzerain Kentar to begin treaty negotiations."

"Welcome to Earth, Lord Captain" Hammond said. "Captain O'Neill, Major Walsh. Escort our guest down to the infirmary for your physicals."

The Earth soldiers saluted General Hammond, and Gabryl acknowledged him with a bow of his head before Charlie and the others led him out of the room.

"What is this physical?" Gabryl asked as he walked beside Charlie down corridor C-9 towards the infirmary. "Why must we be examined by your physicians?"

"The Goa'uld and a few other aliens have attempted to infiltrate our ranks," Charlie explained. "It's standard procedure for returning travelers to be checked."

Gabryl nodded. "A wise precaution," he admitted as he followed Charlie through the doorway into the infirmary.

"Alright, who's first?" Janet asked as she walked towards them from her office.

"I thought who's on second and what's on first?" Charlie joked as he hopped onto one of the waiting gurneys. Gabryl followed Charlie's gestured direction and sat on a second gurney.

"Ha ha ha, Charlie" Janet replied. "Just for that, _**you're**_ first." The members of SG-8 snickered as Janet pulled on her surgical gloves with a snap. They quickly quieted though as she turned a baleful eye on them. "Are you going to introduce me to our guest?" she asked.

"Janet, this is Lord Captain Gabryl," Charlie said. "My lord, this is Major Janet Frasier. She's the chief physician on our base."

"Lord Gabryl," Janet said bowing her head in greeting. 

"Major Frasier," Gabryl said as he returned the gesture. 

Charlie glanced at his watch as Janet drew the standard blood sample. "Can you hurry it up, Janet?" he asked. "I wanna call home before J.J. goes to bed." 

"If you'd stop fidgeting this would go a lot quicker," Janet groused as she grabbed hold of his chin to still his movements while she checked his pupil response. "I swear you're just like your father."

Charlie grinned at Gabryl over Janet's shoulder and when she leaned down to reach around him to check his breathing he winked at the bemused expression on Gabryl's face. 

"You know Captain O'Neill's father then?" Gabryl asked curiously.

"My father's a soldier on this base as well, sir" Charlie informed him. "Most of my family works on the base. Janet included. Her daughter was my wife." The two men spoke of their families as Dr. Frasier performed the post-mission physicals with Janet interjecting questions and comments every now and then. As soon as she announced they were done, Charlie hopped off the gurney and walked over to the phone mounted to the wall. "Hey, Dad" he said after dialing home. "We just got back....It went well. We brought a representative back with us to begin treaty negotiations...Is J.J. asleep already?" he asked after listening to whatever his father had said. "Hey, there little man," Charlie said as a smile lit up his face. "I know...I missed you too, J.J. I've got a little more work to do before I come home...You'll be asleep...She did huh?" Charlie responded. "I've got to go, J.J. Have Pappa Jack give you a kiss for me, and I'll be home when you wake up in the morning. Love you too." After hanging up the phone he returned to Gabryl's side. "Sir, I need to take a shower before we meet with General Hammond," Charlie told him. 

"Lord Gabryl can wait here with me, Charlie" Janet offered. "Go get cleaned up."

"Is that okay with you, sir?" Charlie asked.

"I would enjoy speaking further with Major Frasier," Gabryl agreed pleasantly.

"Then I'll go get cleaned up and return in a little while to escort you to General Hammond," Charlie said. He performed a respectful half bow to Gabryl before leaving the man and the guard assigned to him with Janet in the infirmary. He hurried through his shower and returned to the infirmary to find Gabryl and Janet ensconced in her office looking at pictures. He knocked quietly on the door to announce his presence before joining them in the room. He looked down to find that Janet had been showing their visitor pictures of J.J. and baby Sam.

"You have beautiful children," Gabryl told him as he handed the pictures in his hand to Charlie. 

"Thank you, my lord. These new?" he asked Janet as he flipped through them.

Janet nodded. "Cassie took them the other day when she took the kids to the park to play," she told him.

"I found this picture particularly interesting," Gabryl said stopping Charlie as he shuffled through the pictures. 

Charlie took a second look at the picture in question and noticed in the background the unmistakable figure of Marcus Granger. More interesting to Charlie was the other familiar figure visible in the background. "When exactly did Cassie take these Janet?" Charlie asked.

"Last week," Janet answered becoming concerned about the worry evident in Charlie's voice. "Why?" she demanded.

"Dad and Sam are talking about having another family dinner tomorrow night," Charlie said instead of answering the question. "Maybe I'll have time to get this one framed before then." He held the picture up to her pointing to Granger as he mouthed 'NID' to her. Janet's eyes widened then widened even more as he pointed out the figure of Harry Maybourne as well. "Can I take these with me, Janet?" Charlie asked. When she nodded he quickly separated one set of the prints and tucked them into his pocket. "Ready to meet General Hammond, Lord Gabryl?" Charlie asked the visitor.

"Lead on, Captain" Gabryl answered.


	5. Dr. O'Neill?

"Why does he want to see me?" Sara nervously asked Chuck Guarnere (formerly Kawalsky) as she sat in the passenger seat of his newly purchased SUV. She'd been quiet on the ride up to Cheyenne Mountain, but now that they were actually here her nerves were getting the best of her. Chuck had picked her up a little while ago to bring her to the mountain for the meeting General Hammond had requested. At first, she hadn't worried, but now her imagination was running wild with reasons why the general would want to see her.

"The general didn't say," Chuck told her 

"You're sure everyone's okay?" she demanded for what seemed to Chuck like the hundredth time.

"Charlie's off-world. They made their last check-in. SG-1 is off-duty for the next four days 'cause Sam fell and sprained her ankle. She's got Jack and J.J. pampering her. Everyone's fine," Chuck assured her as he pulled to a stop at the checkpoint and handed his ID to the guard on duty.

"You're sure you don't know why he wants to see me?" Sara asked suspiciously. There was something about Chuck's demeanor that told her he knew something.

"No, he didn't tell me," Chuck repeated with a gentle laugh at Sara. "Relax will ya?" he said as he pulled away from the guard shack and headed up to his assigned spot in the parking lot.

"He didn't tell you, but you have a good guess," Sara accused.

"Yeah, but I think I'll let ya sweat," Chuck teased her.

"Chuck!" Sara threatened. He wasn't sure just what she was threatening, but when a woman used that tone of voice you just had to know it wasn't going to be good.

"He asked me how serious the two of us are," Chuck told her as he put the SUV into park and opened his door. "So I'm thinkin' the only reason he'd want to know that is if he was gonna bring you on as a civilian worker."

"Me?" Sara squeaked as Chuck opened her door and helped her down. She followed him to the next checkpoint on their journey into the SGC and handed over her identification. "As what?" 

"I don't know, Doctor O'Neill" Chuck said as he wrapped an arm around her waist ushering her into the elevator. "What kind of job do you think?"

"I'm not Doctor O'Neill yet," Sara corrected him. 

Chuck pushed the button on the elevator control panel for the correct level then turned and pinned Sara to the wall of the elevator to steal a kiss. "I'm kinda hoping you'll be Doctor Guarnere," he whispered against her lips.

"We talked about this, Chuck" Sara admonished. "It's only been..."

"Two months," he finished for her. "Sara, we're good together."

"I just need some time," she murmured.

Chuck sighed as he rested his forehead against hers. "Jack's one of my best friends, but some days I want to hurt him for what he did to you," he informed her.

Sara wrapped her arms around Chuck's waist and held him close. "We hurt each other, Chuck" Sara reminded him. "It wasn't his fault, and it wasn't mine. Most marriages these days can't survive the loss of a child."

"So you've told me," he agreed pulling away as they felt the elevator slowing to a stop. Once the door opened he put his hand on the small of her back and ushered her down the hall to General Hammond's office. Stopping outside the door, Chuck knocked lightly and waited for the response.

"Enter," they heard General Hammond call from behind the closed door. Chuck opened the door and lightly pushed Sara inside. "Mrs. O'Neill, I'm glad you could come speak with me."

"I didn't think I had much of a choice," Sara commented glaring at Chuck, but she nevertheless stepped forward and accepted General Hammond's extended hand. "Please, call me Sara," she offered.

"Thank you, Colonel" Hammond said dismissing Chuck who smiled reassuringly at the panicked look on Sara's face before backing out of the office. "I wanted to talk to you about something that came to my attention during your security screening," Hammond told her.

"Oh?" Sara asked unsure what could possibly have turned up negatively.

The expression on her face must have clued General Hammond into her unease because he said, "Don't worry. It's nothing bad. I was given a copy of this." He reached across the desk and handed her a portfolio folder. 

As she took the folder Sara turned it around to face her and only then noticed the title on the cover. "This is my thesis!" she exclaimed. "How did you get a copy? I haven't even defended it yet."

"Your advisor was most cooperative," Hammond said. "Not surprising considering the subject matter. Interesting title," he commented as he looked down on an identical portfolio in front of him. "'The Long-term Psychological and Emotional Effects on Military Personnel Due to Participation in Covert Operations,'" Hammond read. "I assume that Jack had something to do with your choice of topic?"

Sara nodded as she stared at him with wide eyes. "You haven't said anything to him have you?" she asked. "He wasn't one of the case studies I used in my research. There's no reason for him to know."

"Relax," the general ordered gently. "I've said nothing to anyone. However, I don't think Jack would react negatively. I have a feeling he'd be proud of your accomplishment."

"Jack doesn't deal well with psychologists," Sara stated refuting his argument. "A fact I think...Dr. McKenzie wasn't it?...would agree with."

"Jack is hardly the only one who doesn't like Dr. McKenzie," Hammond said not quite masking the distaste in his own voice. "However, that does bring me to the reason I asked you to come in."

"McKenzie?" Sara asked. "I don't understand."

"I want you to replace him," Hammond told her.

"Me?" Sara gasped. "But I'm not even licensed yet!"

"Your advisor tells me that's only a matter of time," Hammond assured her. "Until then we can call it a continuation of your graduate study." With a sly smile Hammond continued, "That would perhaps be best as then you wouldn't actually be working for the SGC."

"General," she admonished. "I can't treat family members. It would be unethical."

"I'm not worried about SG-1," Hammond told her. "They do a good job taking care of each other. You've seen that. It's my other teams I worry about. One's who aren't as close as SG-1. Almost none of my people will go to McKenzie, Sara. It's my duty to take care of everyone under my command. Physically we do a damn fine job, but emotionally and mentally I'm failing them," Hammond gruffly admitted. "It's not just the teams going through the 'Gate either. Many of our support personnel, especially the medical personnel, need support they're not getting."

"Off-world activation," a voice over the PA announced.

"That would be SG-8 and Charlie returning," Hammond informed her as he rose and gestured for her to precede him out of the office. They reached the control room just in time to see the seventh chevron lock into place and the wormhole burst into activity in the center of the giant stone ring.

"It's SG-8, sir" Simmons informed the general as the IDC signal was received. "Right on time."

Hammond nodded. "Open the iris," he ordered.

Simmons nodded as his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him carrying out the general's command. A minute later several green clad figures landed on the ramp along with one man dressed in somber black and gray.

"Welcome home, people" Hammond said into the microphone. "Who is our guest?" he asked.

Sara listened as Charlie introduced the stranger to General Hammond then watched as he escorted the man out of the 'Gate room.

"Why don't we finish our discussion, Sara" Hammond suggested after SG-8 had left the 'Gate room. 

She returned with him to his office. "General Hammond, this is something I'm going to have to think about and discuss with the family," she said. "I don't want things to be awkward for Jack and Charlie. Then there's Chuck and I..."

"I understand," he assured her. "I can't promise I can get them to make the kind of exception for you and Chuck that I was able to get for Jack and Sam."

"I wouldn't expect it," she told him.

"But you could always use that other loop-hole," he teased lightly. "I understand he's asked you."

"Several times," she confirmed. "I'm just not ready to make that commitment."

"If you take the position, you'll be privy to what's going on here," Hammond reminded her guessing that at least part of her hesitation was the fact that Chuck worked at the SGC. He knew how hard on a marriage it could be working at a facility like the SGC. 

"You'd make a good horse-trader, General" Sara commented on his bargaining skills.

George smiled. "That's what a large part of command is, Mrs. O'Neill. Bargaining for funding, supplies, personnel. I spend more time then most at it because of the nature of the SGC."

"I'll think about your offer," Sara told the general.

"Take your time," Hammond said. "I believe Charlie will need a ride home if you and Colonel Guarnere would care to stick around."


	6. Plans Over Pizza

"Dad? Mom?" Charlie called somewhat softly as he led his mother and Chuck Guarnere into his father's home. 

"We're in the dining room, Charlie" he heard his second mother, Samantha Carter, call from just that direction. 

They followed the sound of her voice back to the dining room and found the four members of SG-1 plus Mike, Janet and Cassandra playing cards. "Pull up a chair and we'll deal you in," Daniel offered as he scooted his chair to the side making room. 

"Who's winning?" Chuck asked.

"Cassie's acquiring quite a college fund," Jack answered. 

Cassie snorted in return. "I'm going to the academy," she reminded him. "The tax payers are paying for my education. This is going to a down payment on a car of my own."

"We'll have to see," Janet said.

Cassie smirked. She knew very well that when her mother said 'we'll have to see' it really meant 'you win, but I'm not going to tell you that yet.'

"I'm going to check on the kids," Charlie said gesturing towards the stairs.

Jack nodded as he threw a couple more chips into the growing pile in the center of the table. "There's pizza and drinks in the kitchen," he offered the three newcomers. 

"How'd you manage to do that, Sam?" Chuck asked as he pointed to where Sam's foot rested in Jack's lap with an ice pack draped over it.

"Oh, we were blazing a trail to those ruins Daniel wanted to look at on P5G-1X4," Sam said. "It started pouring down rain, and I caught my foot in a hole because I couldn't see."

"Well that's not a very good story," Chuck groused as he rounded the breakfast bar into the kitchen and began fixing himself a plate of pizza. 

"Sorry to disappoint you," she chuckled. "Next time I'll know to make up something more dramatic for you."

"You do that," Chuck agreed with a chuckle of his own as he took a seat between Daniel and Cassandra.

"So how was your meeting with the general?" Janet asked Sara.

"Does everyone know about that?" Sara demanded with no small amount of exasperation.

"Well, I don't," Jack replied. "Meeting about what?"

"Well, I need to talk to you and Charlie about that," Sara temporized pulling up a chair next to Chuck in the space Jack created for her by moving his own chair closer to Sam.

"About what?" Charlie asked as he returned to the room with his hungry daughter in his arms. He handed the baby to Cassie then went into the kitchen to fix both of them something to eat. 

"The general offered me a job on base," Sara said. "I want to know how you would feel if I took it."

"What kind of job, Mom?" Charlie asked her returning to the dining room balancing the his plate of food on top of a glass of soda in one hand. In the other hand he carried his daughter's bottle which he handed to Cassie as he sat down next to her.

"I'd be replacing McKenzie," Sara said. "It won't happen right away. I don't have my license yet."

"McKenzie?" Jack asked. "You're going to replace that quack?" 

"Jack," Sam hissed noticing the uncertainty in Sara's eyes.

Before she could admonish him further he reached over and gave Sara a smacking kiss on her cheek. "When do you start?!" he asked before his expression changed to one of puzzlement. "Wait a minute...when did you finish your degree?" he asked.

"I defend my thesis in two weeks," Sara said. "I'll graduate in May."

"Whoa," Jack said with a grin giving her a hug. "Another doctor in the family! I'm proud of ya, Sara."

"Charlie?" she asked. "How do you feel about this?"

Charlie smiled at his mother from across the table as he said, "Ditto what Dad just said."

Sara sighed with relief.

"What about you, Chuck?" Cassie asked. "Won't that mean you can't see each other?" she continued ignoring the jab Charlie aimed at her ribs beneath the table.

"We wouldn't have a problem if she'd just say yes," Chuck groused gently as he leaned over and kissed Sara's neck just below her ear.

Sara closed her eyes and leaned into his touch savoring the feel of his touch. When she opened her eyes again she found herself looking directly into Jack's expressive brown eyes. Eyes that urged her not to follow the example he and Sam had set but instead grab onto the happiness she was being presented. Sara smiled in acknowledgement then turned to Chuck. Ever so lightly she touched her lips to Chuck's then whispered, "Yes."

"Sweet," Charlie cheered beating his father to the punch. 

"Guess that means we have a wedding to plan," Jack agreed with a wide smile as he reached around Sara's back to shake hands with Chuck. "Congratulations, Chuck" he told the other man.

"Thanks, Jack" Chuck said returning the smile. 

"Before we get into the wedding plans there's something else we need to talk about tonight," Charlie said. The tone of his voice conveyed just how serious this conversation would be.

"What happened?" Jack demanded instantly.

"The NID made their approach," Charlie said then described exactly what had happened on L'tarja.

"That's how Captain Gabryl knew about Granger?" Janet said. 

"Yeah," Charlie replied pulling the pictures out of his pocket and handing them to his father. "Take a look at these, Dad."

As Jack looked at each picture he passed it on to Sam starting a circuit around the table. In only a minute or so, Jack had found the first of the pictures that Gabryl had pointed out to Charlie. When he did so, he raised his eyes to meet Charlie's somber gaze.

"They're going to go after the kids," Charlie said voicing an opinion that Jack couldn't disagree with. After Jack nodded his agreement, Charlie said, "Keep going. There's something else in there you should see."

Jack continued through the pictures. "Harry?" he said as he passed the picture to Sam. "He's guarding the kids."

"Or following Granger," Charlie said. "There's no way to tell from the photos."

"So what do we do?" Cassie asked as she rocked baby Sam in her arms. 

"I thought about putting the kids in a day care center," Charlie said, "but I don't think safety in numbers applies here. I think that would make them even more vulnerable. Anyone with a badge could walk in and say they were there to pick them up because something had happened on base."

"The children could be sent through the Stargate," Teal'c suggested. "They would be safe in the Land of the Light with Dry'ac."

"Or on Abydos with Skarra and Kasuf," Daniel added. 

"I thought about that, too" Charlie admitted. "Captain Gabryl even offered to take them into his own home, but I don't want to send them away."

"There are other things to consider with that," Cassie added. "J.J.'s young enough to forget the Stargate and his life before, but not if we send him to live on an alien planet. Can you imagine what would happen if he went to school and told a teacher? Or classmates?"

"She's right," Janet agreed knowing Cassie spoke from her own experience. "Cassie was old enough to understand the need for secrecy. J.J. isn't, and he won't be even when he starts kindergarten either. He needs to forget."

"Cassie, I think you'd better stick to the house as much as possible for now when you've got the kids," Daniel told her. 

"Make sure the alarm is always on," Chuck added.

"And we're going to start teaching you some self defense," Charlie added. "And how to handle a gun."

"Charlie," Sara gasped. "You can't..."

"We'll take precautions, but yes, I do mean to have a gun in the house," he said. "I'm going to build her an intar. They're not lethal, but on the highest setting they'll disable someone long enough for Cassie to get the kids out of the house."


	7. At the Range

"Brace your feet like I told you," Charlie ordered Cassie as he held the headset she wore to protect her hearing away from her ear. "Now sight along the barrel. When I tap you on the shoulder squeeze off your rounds. When the clip's empty put the weapon down. Got it?" Cassie nodded as Charlie put his own headset back on. He then tapped her shoulder lightly. Cassie took a deep breath then slowly let out half of it just as he'd taught her then squeezed the trigger once then several more times. Once the clip was empty she put the hand gun on the counter in front of her. At the same time Charlie pushed the button that would bring the target to them. 

"I don't see why I can't just learn with an intar," Cassie protested as she pulled the protective headset from her head.

"Because if you end up with a real weapon in your hands I want you to have experience firing one," Charlie said. "In a couple months you'd be learning at the academy anyway."

"Okay," she agreed.

"And unless you're firing at a live target it's hard to see what you hit with an intar," Charlie added.

"Okay," she repeated more forcefully. "I get it."

Charlie hid his smile by scratching his nose. Cassie in a mood was always good for some entertainment. One thing about her being a teenager again was that he could tease her like this and not end up sleeping on the couch. His smile faded a bit as Charlie realized that he missed ending up on the couch.

"Charlie?" Cassie asked noticing the change in his mood.

"It's okay, Cassie" he told her. "Just...remembering." He took the target down and handed it to her. "Nice shooting," he complimented before hanging a clean target in its place.

"I have a good teacher," Cassie told him with a flirty little smile he recognized all too well.

"Don't torture me, Cassie" Charlie admonished her. "We have a deal."

"Doesn't mean I can't work on moving up the timetable," she argued.

"You're still jailbait, honey" Charlie reminded her gently while inwardly he thought, _'This is going to be a very long five years.'_

"Alright," she pouted then smiled to show him she understood. She still didn't like it, but she understood. "We done?" she asked gesturing to the line of targets.

"Yeah, class is dismissed" Charlie told her. "I promised Dad I'd be back by five."

"Charlie, were you serious when you said I could borrow your dad?" Cassie asked as she cleaned the handgun as Charlie had taught her.

"Of course," he replied. "Why?"

"There's a father-daughter dance at school," she told him.

"You don't want Daniel to go with you?" Charlie teased.

"I do, but I don't want to weird him out or anything. You told me not to push," she reminded him.

"Ask Daniel," Charlie advised. "He'd be thrilled...and it's not that big of a push."

Cassie laughed and gave him a hug before turning back to the weapon she was cleaning. "How are the wedding plans coming?" she asked.

"They scrapped everything they'd done and started over last night," Charlie informed her. He grinned at her gasp of surprise. Before she could ask he explained, "Dad proposed to Sam. They decided last night to have a double ceremony."

"That's got to be..." Cassie began.

"Weird for me?" Charlie guessed.

"Yeah," Cassie agreed. "Your parents are getting married again, but not to each other. Yet they're doing it in the same ceremony."

"They say it's a last bit of closure on their marriage," Charlie told her with a shrug. "They want J.J. to be ring bearer. I think he's a bit young..."

"But it will look so cute," Cassie retorted as Charlie led them from the firing range that had been built in one of the lower levels of the SGC for the use of the teams in practicing with the SGC's recovered goa'uld weapons.

Charlie sighed. "That's what my moms said," he agreed. 

Cassie giggled lightly at the highly put upon look on Charlie's face. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Cassie realized Charlie wasn't leading them back to the elevators that would take them to the surface. "Where are we going?" Cassie demanded. Charlie grinned mischievously in response. "No," Cassie said halting in the middle of the corridor. "No, Charlie."

"Yes, Cassie" Charlie replied as he bent over and grabbed her behind the knees. He ignored her shrieks as he straightened with her bent over his shoulder. Charlie smiled pleasantly to the others he passed in the halls as he carried Cassandra down the hall as she beat on his back with her fists demanding to be put down. It was a demand he obeyed as soon as he entered Daniel's lab. "Daniel, Cassie's got a request," he told the older man as he dumped Cassie back on her feet.

"What's up, Cassie?" Daniel asked as he gently placed the artifact with which he'd been working on the work table in front of him. He pushed the frames of his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose as he looked first at Cassie then at Charlie.

"Nothing," Cassie denied. "Charlie's just..."

"Cassie needs a date to the father-daughter dance at school," Charlie interjected earning him a feminine glare that promised him some form of dire retribution at a later time.

"You...you want me to take you?" Daniel stuttered as he blushed.

"Well..." Cassie mumbled as her face too turned red with embarrassment. 

Charlie glared at Daniel as he jerked his head towards the teenager. 

"Uhh...I'd be honored, Cassie" Daniel told her quickly. "When is it?" 

"Next Friday?" Cassie told him nervously.

"So do I need to get a tux?" he asked.

She nodded shyly. "It starts at seven," she mumbled. "There's a dinner first."

"Okay," he said. "I'll come get you at six?"

Cassie nodded then grabbed him for a quick hug. She pressed a kiss to his cheek before stepping back. "Let's go, Charlie" she ordered quickly fleeing the lab.

Charlie grinned at Daniel as he waved farewell.

Daniel chuckled to himself as he shook his head. He went over to his desk and picked up the phone. As soon as it was picked up at the other end he said, "Jack, I'm going to have to get a rain check on poker night next Friday. It seems I've got a father-daughter dance to attend." 


	8. The Bet

Daniel climbed the steps to Janet Frasier's home a week later wearing his hastily rented tuxedo. He carried a corsage for Cassie and a bouquet of flowers for her mother. Daniel had been thinking about the good doctor a great deal since Chuck Kawalsky's revelation in the conference room the day of their arrival. He was beginning to realize that his life hadn't ended when Sha're died. He could fall in love again, get married, have a family. Now here he was taking Cassandra Frasier to a father-daughter dance. 

The door opened before he could knock revealing Janet Frasier. "Come on in. She's not ready yet," Janet said gesturing for Daniel to come into the house. 

"These are for you," Daniel told her extending the bouquet of flowers to Janet. 

"They're beautiful, but you didn't have to," Janet sighed as she lifted them to her face drinking in their fragrance.

"If I bring flowers to one beautiful lady, I should bring flowers for both," Daniel replied with a smile as he carefully tucked a strand of hair back from her face.

"Come into the kitchen with me while I'll put them in some water," Janet ordered as she turned away from him to hide the blush of pleasure on her face. Daniel obediently followed her into the kitchen. "I appreciate you taking Cassie to the dance, Daniel" she said.

"I'm happy to do it," he responded as he watched her pull a vase from the cabinet beneath the sink and fill it with water. "Actually, I was wondering..."

"Yes?" Janet prodded when his voice trailed off.

"Would you care to go out to dinner one night?" Daniel asked. "Just the two of us," he added.

Janet blushed as only a redhead can before answering, "I'd like that, Daniel."

"Mom? Daniel?" they heard Cassie call.

"We're in the kitchen," Janet responded. She smirked at Daniel as she told him, "You won't believe how grown up she looks."

A moment later when Cassie stepped into the kitchen Daniel had to agree with Janet about how grown up Cassie looked standing there in her formal dress with her hair piled high on her head in some complicated style. The dress was floor length in deep burgundy red satin with spaghetti thin straps that crisscrossed her bare back to her waist where Janet had tied them in a complicated looking knot leaving the ends to trail down behind her. Draped over her arms was a delicately crocheted midnight black silk shawl. "You look beautiful, Cassie" Daniel told her as he presented her with her corsage only now realizing why Janet had ordered this particular corsage. He'd been a bit confused when Janet told him she'd already picked out Cassie's corsage. All he needed to do was pick it up. It matched not only her gown but also the rose woven into her hair. "I'm going to be the envy of everyone."

Cassie blushed and ducked her head as she took the clear plastic box from him. "Thanks," she murmured as she opened the lid and lifted the delicate arrangement of flowers from inside. "Mom, would you?" she asked.

Janet smiled as she stepped around the kitchen table to take the flowers from Cassie's hand. She carefully pinned the corsage to Cassie's gown then stepped back to get a better look at the effect. "You're gorgeous, sweetie," she told her adopted daughter. "I need to get some pictures before the two of you go."

Daniel nodded as he placed his hand on the back of Cassie's back to steer her into the living room. Janet grabbed the camera she'd already loaded with film from the fireplace mantle. Daniel and Cassie good-naturedly posed for pictures for about ten minutes before Cassie finally lost patience with her mother and said, "Mom, we gotta go."

"Take the camera with you," she said. "You might want pictures there."

Daniel nodded and slipped the small camera into the pocket of his tuxedo. "Ready?" he asked Cassie. 

She nodded and led the way out to his car. Once he'd backed out of the driveway she said, "Daniel, I promised Jack and Sam we'd stop by the house so they could see my dress."

"Sure," Daniel agreed laughing a little. "We can stop and torture Charlie for a minute."

"I'm not..." Cassie attempted to deny, but Daniel cut her off.

"Sure you are," he said. "This is payback for him carrying you through the SGC over his shoulder, and your mother's in on it."

"So are his," Cassie smirked. 

Daniel laughed the rest of the way over to Jack's house. Cassie refused to wait for Daniel to come around and open her door, but she did take his arm as they walked up the cement path to the front door. Cassie wasn't familiar with walking in heels this tall, so she appreciated having Daniel there to steady her. "Jack?" Daniel called as he pushed open the front door. 

"In the dining room," Jack called back. 

As they walked into the kitchen, Daniel could see that Sara and Sam both had cameras out. Sam had her camera aimed at the doorway in which they stood. Sara had hers pointed at her son. They both snapped photos within a hair's breath of one another. Daniel had a hard time keeping a straight face as Sam and Sara each took a few more pictures of Cassie. Charlie's two sets of parents traded looks with Daniel while Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow though they could even detect a hint of amusement in that subtle gesture. 

As soon as Daniel and Cassie left for the dance, Charlie stood from the table.

"Where you going, Charlie?" Jack asked with an amazingly straight face considering the utterly dazed expression on Charlie's face.

"I'm going....yeah...uh" he stuttered as he headed for the stairs. As he left the room they could here him muttering under his breath, "Shower...very cold shower...very long cold shower." 

"He's never going to make it five years," Sara said. 

"Not if Cassie keeps this up," Sam agreed with a chuckle at her stepson's expense.

Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. "Fifty bucks says they're engaged before she graduates."

"That's too vague," Janet argued as she entered the room and placed her alcoholic contribution to the night's poker party on the breakfast bar. She dragged some money out of her jacket pocket and placing it on top of the bills Jack had laid on the table. "Three years in June," Janet predicted. 

Jack gave the doctor an appraising look. "Charlie won't give in easily," he said. "Four years in June."

"Sam?" Janet asked.

Sam smiled as she pulled a few tattered bills from the pocket of her jeans and added them to the pot. "Cassie's pretty determined," Sam pointed out gesturing towards the upstairs from which they could hear the sound of water rushing through the pipes. "Two years in June. She'll want to be a June bride."

"I think he'll hold out longer than that," Sara argued adding her own money to the growing pile. "April three years from now."

"Four and a half years. That would be...around Christmas," Chuck predicted splitting the difference between Sara and Jack's predictions as he too joined the pool.

Teal'c pulled a neatly folded wad of money from the pocket of his BDU's and added his own fifty to the pile. "CassandraFrasier is most stubborn when she wishes something," Teal'c said. "CaptainO'Neill's objection does not concern his feelings for her nor her feelings for him merely her age."

"So what's your guess, T?" Jack asked.

"Two and one half years to their marriage," he predicted. The others guffawed at this estimate, but Jack thought he could see a ghost of a smile on Teal'c's solemn face. 


	9. Another Mission

"So how was the dance, Danny?" Jack asked as he and Sam joined their other two teammates at a table in the commissary for breakfast before their mission a few days later. 

"I would have thought Cassie or Janet would have told Sam all about it," Daniel replied. "And that Sam then told you."

"Well...yeah," Jack admitted. "But I wanna hear from you too."

Daniel smiled as he shook his head at his friend. "First, I want in on the bet," Daniel told them as he pulled some cash from his jacket pocket. 

Jack pulled an envelope out of his wallet then took a piece of paper from within. "Okay, what's your bet?" he asked. 

"August in three years," Daniel answered.

"Graham already has it," Jack told him. "September? July?"

"Just how big of a pool is this?" Daniel asked.

"Let's just say if Janet wins she won't have to worry about paying for the wedding. Or would that be you?" Jack asked with a smirk.

"Okay, September," Daniel decided not rising to Jack's bait. He handed the money to Jack who tucked it into the envelope along with the list before returning the whole thing to his wallet. "I hope you're putting that in the safe before we leave." 

Jack raised an eyebrow as if to say 'Please, don't you know me better by now.' "So Danny, I've got a favor to ask," Jack said.

"Yes?" Daniel asked cautiously knowing better than to agree right away. The last time he'd done that Jack had him building a new platform on the roof of his house during one of their oh so frequent downtimes.

"I need you to be my best man," Jack said with all seriousness as he traded a grin with Sam.

The smile that transformed Daniel's face stretched from ear to ear. "I'd be honored, Jack" Daniel told his friend. 

"What is this 'best man,' DanielJackson?" Teal'c asked. 

Jack groaned and Sam giggled as Daniel launched into a detailed explanation of the wedding traditions observed on Earth and in America specifically. 

"This is going to be a military wedding, Daniel" Jack warned. "There's a few traditions specific to military weddings."

"Such as, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked. His friends could tell he found this discussion fascinating though most would mistake his bland expression for boredom.

"Ahh...the arch!" Jack said. When Teal'c raised his eyebrow in a silent appeal for more information Jack turned to Sam. "Well, there are eight in the honor guard and they form two lines. Then they...help me out here will ya, Sam?"

"You're doing fine," she told him then sighed as she gave in to the little boy lost expression in his eyes. "They cross swords and then the married couple walks under them."

"It's a tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages," Daniel explained. "It was a pledge of protection to the lord's lady by the knights of his household."

"Right," Jack said cutting Daniel off before he could really get started on the topic. "Time to get ready for the mission," he announced as he stood and helped Sam to her feet. Representatives from L'tarja were currently at the SGC teaching Sam and her team of scientists a whole new branch of physics. As head of the science department, Sam would be staying behind on Earth to learn as much as she could from the L'tarjan scientists. She wasn't happy about it as one of the other Earth scientists in attendance would be Dr. McKay. Charlie would be joining SG-1 on their mission today while Sam spent the day plotting ways to make McKay disappear. "Bye, beautiful," Jack said giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as they exited the commissary to go their separate ways, she to her lab and he to the locker room.

"Keep out of trouble," she admonished in return.

"Me?" Jack asked feigning innocence as he walked backwards down the hall smirking at her. He waved as he turned on his heel to catch up with Teal'c and Daniel. When he reached the locker room the others including Charlie were already there. "How was breakfast, captain?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Messy," Charlie said. "Little Sam made her displeasure at plums for breakfast known by spitting it back at me."

"You hated peas," Jack told his son as he slipped on the camouflaged vest. "Not that I blamed you. That stuff's nasty!"

Charlie stood near the door already fully suited up. "You'll get no argument from me." 

Since the arrival of Charlie and Chuck 'Kawalsky' Guarnere several months ago the mission list for the SG teams had gone through radical changes. Charlie had brought a dump of the computer core from their timeline. As soon as they'd been able to transfer the data to their own computer, General Hammond put a temporary halt on all recon missions while the data was analyzed and a new schedule was drawn up. They'd reprioritized the mission schedule based on the new information. In the nine weeks since exploration missions had resumed, they'd found more useful technology and allies than they had over the past year. This wasn't to say that every world in this reality matched what Charlie and Guarnere had known in theirs. Two weeks ago SG-2 had left on a mission to what they expected to be a peaceful world and potential ally. Instead they found that the democratic government Guarnere had known in the other timeline had been replaced with a xenophobic militaristic regime. Guarnere and his team had retreated through the Stargate under fire only a few hours into the mission. Chuck had been devastated at being fired upon by a man he had known as his friend.

"So we're off to picturesque PX4-yada yada yada," Jack said. "What exactly are we going there for again?"

"Danny's going to look at some rocks," Charlie replied. "The ruins were in fairly bad shape when we came across them, but according to the images the UAV sent back they're still intact now."

"And why do we care?" Jack asked as he led the way through the corridors to the embarkation room.

"The bits I...well he...was able to translate spoke of a weapon to fight the false gods," Daniel said. 

"Now that's something to care about!" Jack agreed putting on his sunglasses as he walked up the ramp. He waved an acknowledgement as Hammond called down through the speakers wishing them luck.

It was luck they wouldn't need as the mission unfolded without incident. Charlie acted as Daniel's assistant recording every inch of the ruins while Daniel himself spent several hours in the site where the other Daniel had found the writings about the false gods. It was what he believed to be the village temple. Things went so well they finished early returning through the Stargate two hours before they were scheduled. 

Sam poked her head into the infirmary as the four travelers were receiving their post mission physical. "Hey!" she called. "I heard you guys got done early."

"Hi, Sam" Daniel greeted her without looking up from the notes he was scribbling out with lightning speed completely oblivious to the thermometer in his mouth or the nurse taking his blood pressure.

Jack and Sam were trading an amused look at their friend's expense when Charlie returned from getting his MRI. "What's so funny?" he asked. Sam didn't reply aloud pointing to Daniel instead. Charlie stifled a chuckle behind his hand as he shook his head at the focused archaeologist.

"I'll stick around until after your debriefing," Sam told them. "So you don't have to get a ride home with Daniel."

Thankfully, a short mission meant a short debriefing. It was made even shorter by the two O'Neill's who seemed incapable of sitting still. Finally, Hammond dismissed them with an amused smile, and they were quickly on their way home.

"I've got something for you Charlie," Sam said as they entered the elevator to the surface. She rifled through her bag a moment before finding the small envelope she'd been looking for. "Janet brought them in today."

"More pictures of the kids?" Charlie asked as he accepted the envelope she handed him.

"Not exactly," Sam responded as she winked at Jack. "Pictures from the father-daughter dance Daniel took Cassie to."

"You're killing me," Charlie moaned, but he nevertheless opened the packet of photos and thumbed through them as they walked to his father's truck. They each threw their bags into the bed of the truck then Sam sandwiched herself between the two men for the drive back to Jack's house. "She's still seventeen. She needs to..."

"We're not arguing with you, Charlie" Sam assured her stepson. "You need to wait at least a few years, but don't try to deny what's there Charlie."

Charlie nodded reluctantly, and Sam noticed him slip one of the pictures of Cassie into the pocket of his jacket.

"Charlie," Jack said quietly as he braked slowing the truck as they approached the house.

It was the way he said it that had both his passenger's heads snapping up. Something was wrong. Looking at the house it didn't more than half a second to realize what had caught Jack's attention. The front door stood wide open.

Jack was out of the truck just a fraction of a second behind Charlie. As they got closer to the door they could see the wood frame had been splintered. Jack silently motioned Charlie to the side of the house then pointed Sam to take up position on the other side of the front door. They would be going in unarmed, but there was no question in any of their minds about waiting for backup. Charlie nodded agreement with his father's instructions as he jogged quickly around the side of the house keeping low to the ground. He lifted the latch on the gate leading into the backyard and pushed it open barely two inches creating a gap just big enough for him to see through. He surveyed what lay beyond the gate quickly then pushed it open just enough for him to slip inside before closing it behind him. He hugged the side of the house as he carefully made his way to the back door. 

As Charlie made his way to the back door, Sam and Jack positioned themselves on either side of the front door. They waited thirty seconds for Charlie to get into position then moved cautiously into the house. By the time they'd reached the living room, Charlie silently met them coming from the kitchen. They were careful to touch as little as possible as they searched the lower level of the house. Finding nothing, Charlie pointed upwards to which Jack and Sam nodded. Jack motioned for Charlie to take the lead. Their search upstairs proved to be just as fruitless as downstairs. As the three of them finished their search in the master bedroom Charlie broke the silence.

"Son of a bitch!" he swore as he grabbed the telephone off the nightstand.

"I'll tell Hammond, son" Jack said.

"I'm not calling Hammond," Charlie informed his father just before his attention was drawn back to the phone. "Teal'c," Charlie said into the receiver. "Find Granger and detain him. And I don't care how the fuck you do it as long he's still able to talk when you're done! Someone broke into the house. Cassie and the kids are missing."


	10. The Cell

Cassie shifted the carrier Samantha was strapped into to get a better grip on it yet at the same time she was careful not to let go of J.J.'s hand. They were pushed into a small windowless room, and Cassie let out a sigh of relief as the door shut behind them. 

"Cassie?" J.J. asked tearfully.

Cassie looked around the room as she walked over to the only piece of furniture, a single cot, and put the carrier on it. She helped J.J. climb on to the cot beside her then pulled him into her lap. "It's going to be alright, J.J." she said. "Your daddy's going to find us. Don't be scared." She continued to croon soothingly to the toddler as she surreptitiously conducted a more thorough survey of the room. She noted with some annoyance the camera mounted to the ceiling in the corner. That would make it more difficult for her to retrieve the intar.

They'd checked the diaper bag , but of course, they hadn't found anything in it that would arouse their suspicions. Little Sam was sitting on the weapon they'd thought to find in the diaper bag. She'd made such a fuss about the bag they hadn't even thought to question the carrier. It had been Sara's suggestion to hide the weapon under the fabric covering the child seat. She'd rightly guessed that no one who didn't have a child of their own would realize that the fabric was removable. Jack had spent the better part of a day carving a niche in the molded plastic seat just big enough for the weapon Charlie had built. There were other things hidden in the diaper bag, but nothing as important as that weapon. 

The door opened and several men entered the room. Cassie moved J.J. off her lap and stood placing herself between the men and the children. Cassie felt her blood run cold as a final man wearing a white lab coat entered the room. "I need to take some blood," he said. Cassie bit down on the fear she felt but didn't mask the hate in her eyes as she held her arm out to him. He didn't even seem to notice her as he went about the task of collecting the sample. When he'd filled several vials with her blood he withdrew the needle from her arm and cleaned the area with an alcohol swab. "Them too," he said barely glancing at the children. 

Cassie wanted to protest but she forced herself to remember what she'd been told to do if something like this happened. 

_"No heroics, Cass" Jack had ordered. "Just wait. We will find you."_

_"Do what they tell you," Chuck added. _

_"Don't take any unnecessary risks, but do everything you can to keep the kids with you," Charlie urged. _

_"Observe your captors closely," Teal'c had suggested. "Find their weaknesses. Discover patterns of behavior that can be used to your advantage."_

Cassie bit back her protest and forced herself to help their captors take blood samples from both Samantha and J.J. As they left the room she shouted, "Hey we need something to drink after that!"

"She's right," the one in the lab coat admitted. "Get them something to drink. Juice or something."

One of the guards nodded his agreement as he shut the door leaving her locked in the room with two terrified children wailing at the top of their lungs. Cassie took Sam's carrier and set it on the floor. She rocked it with her foot as she wrapped her arms around J.J. and tried to calm him. A few minutes later one of the guards returned carrying a jug of apple juice which he held out to her. "It needs to be cut with water," she said as she rocked her sobbing son. The baby resting at her feet had already calmed. 

"What?" he growled.

"They're too young to drink straight juice. It'll make them sick," Cassie said as her heart was beating a loud tattoo in her chest. The guard didn't appear much older than she herself was, but even so Cassie was nervous. Cassie snagged the diaper bag from the floor and rummaged inside with one hand. It took her only a few seconds to locate both J.J.'s sippy cup and Samantha's bottle. She held both out to the guard as she ordered, "Half water, half juice." She held his eyes waiting for him to react. In her mind she heard again Jack speaking to her in a quiet voice that wavered occasionally as they sat in the darkness of his rooftop observatory. 

_"Humans aren't that far removed from our more primitive ancestors," he said. "We still react instinctively to certain stimuli. Have yourself an old fashioned staring contest the first time your eyes meet your captors. Pick your target carefully, though. Don't try it on all of them. Pick someone less confident...younger. The first time your eyes make contact don't look away. Don't even blink. Make them look away first, and you'll have dominance in any situation after that. You might get a subtle advantage out of it. A split second hesitation that you can use to protect yourself."_

_In the darkness, she couldn't see his face as he spoke. It was probably among the reasons he'd brought her up here to have this talk. O'Neill wouldn't want to relive his captivity in Iraq, but he was doing so for her. Hoping to give her some bit of information that could help her should the worst happen. _

_"What do I do with the others?" she asked._

_" Don't challenge them verbally. Do exactly as they ask, but always look them in the eye when you're doing it. Keep your eyes down and stay quiet," Jack answered. "Be subservient...meek. Make yourself as invisible as you can to the guys with tempers. If something happens remember you're not a POW. You're a hostage, and hostages have value. Use that if you can."_

The guard's gaze dropped to the cups in her hand. He reached out and grabbed them from her hand then stalked from the cell. Cassie's breath whooshed out in relief as soon as the door shut behind him. A few minutes later he returned with the children's drinks and the jug of watered down juice. He handed her both J.J.'s sippy cup and Samantha's bottle after setting the jug on the floor by the door. When he turned to leave Cassie spoke up, "Can you put the baby's carrier on the cot so I can feed her as well?" Again she stared the young guard in the eyes. Chronologically, he was older than Cassie, but despite his current occupation, Cassie knew she had more life experience to draw on. Again, it was the guard who broke eye contact first as he bent to lift the baby's carrier onto the cot. Cassie didn't allow her eyes to leave his face though. She continued to stare at him as she aimed the bottle at Samantha's face. The baby grabbed the bottle with both hands steering the nipple to her mouth. Cassie held it in place as she continued to stare somberly at the guard who took one step backwards before turning and leaving the room.

"When's Daddy gonna come?" J.J. asked quietly as he finished the juice. He laid his small head against her chest as one small hand gripped the fabric of her shirt. 

"I don't know, baby" she told him. "We're just going to have to be brave until he does. Do you think you can do that for me?" J.J. nodded though the expression on his face told Cassie he wasn't really sure he could do as she asked. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Samantha," Cassie promised. "We're going to be fine." 

Cassie renewed her quiet survey of the room trying to decide how she and the children would sleep that night. Finally she lifted J.J. down from the cot and set Samantha's car seat in the corner. She pulled the thin mattress from the cot to the floor then pushed the frame up against the wall making sure it overlaid the door just slightly. Cassie hoped that to her captors it would just appear that she'd carelessly moved the frame out of the way. In reality, if the door opened the scrape of the metal frame along the floor would hopefully wake her. She pushed the mattress against the wall and helped J.J. remove his shoes. She stripped him down to his cotton t-shirt and diaper to sleep in. With some cajoling she got him to lay down at one end of the mattress. With J.J. now settled, Cassie then lifted Samantha from the confinement of the carrier and laid her at the opposite end of the mattress. She sat between them with her back to the wall. Covering all three of them with the single blanket she resigned herself to an uncomfortable night's sleep sitting against the wall.

It hardly seemed like she'd fallen asleep when Cassie heard the scrape of the door being opened. Being careful not to disturb the children, Cassie scrambled to her feet once again placing herself between their captors and her children. The man who had taken their blood a few hours earlier entered the room followed by a different set of guards. At least it seemed like only a few hours had gone by. This room had no windows. So she had no way of knowing how much time had really passed since. He noted the cot by the door then the children sleeping on the mattress by the wall. "You're a resourceful young woman aren't you," he commented. When Cassie made no reply he shrugged. "The blood samples we took from you last night are quite fascinating," he said. "My informants tell me these are your children...or at least the children of a version of yourself from an alternate reality." He paused again waiting for Cassie's comment, but the only response she gave him was a quick glance down at J.J.'s sleeping form. He knew her as Aunt Cassie and was much to young to understand what the reality. "Still no comment?" he asked. "Oh well. The DNA tests will confirm or disprove that information easily enough. Tell me about Neerti," he ordered.

"She's a goa'uld," Cassie responded.

"Oh, I know that much," he told her.

"She pretended to be a god. She was doing some kind of experiment on the people of my world," Cassie said. "Something about evolving us. It made me sick. She made General Hammond let her go in exchange for healing me."

"What else?" he asked.

"I don't know any more," Cassie told him. "I was sick! Delirious."

"What did she do to cure you?" he questioned.

"I dont' know!" Cassie hissed. "She used some kind of healing device she wore on her hand."

"Like this?" he asked pulling his hand from his pocket. Cassie felt the blood drain from her face as she got a good look at the object in his hand.

"You can't use it," Cassie informed him.

He smiled in response. It was a smile that chilled her heart. "We'll see," he replied. "Sleep well, Cassandra." He turned and left the room with the guards on his heels. 

She waited until the door had closed then sank back down onto the makeshift pallet and only then gave into the tremors that shook her body. "Find us soon, Charlie" she whispered as she hugged herself in an attempt to still the shaking of her hands.


	11. Where to?

Charlie paced the living room of his father's house like a caged tiger waiting for word from Teal'c. There was no point in calling the police. If it was the NID, and there was no reason to think otherwise, the police would be no help. Jack had phoned General Hammond to inform him of what they'd found at the house, but the general's hands were tied as well. He had no jurisdiction off-base unless it involved military personnel or national security. Unfortunately, Cassie and the children didn't qualify as military personnel, and while he might be able to make a case for national security, it would take time they did not have. The best Hammond could do was send a security team out to investigate an apparent break-in where classified materials might have been stolen. 

"Yeah," Jack said into the phone after grabbing it from its normal place on the table beside the couch.

"O'Neill, I have been unable to locate LieutenantGranger," Teal'c's voice reported. "Security reports he left the SGC soon after you."

"Thanks, Teal'c" Jack said. After replacing the receiver, he turned to Charlie. "Teal'c says Granger flew the coop just after we left the Mountain."

Charlie was silent as he turned and stalked down the hall to the home office he was currently sharing with his father. Jack turned to follow him but stopped when someone knocked on the door. Jack gestured for Sam to open the door with a jerk of his head at the same time he flipped the safety off the weapon he'd retrieved from the locked case on the top shelf in his bedroom.

As she walked swiftly to the door Sam shouted, "Coming!" She waited until Jack was in position behind the door before opening it. 

"Ma'am," the young officer on the other side of the door greeted her. Behind him stood two equally young airmen. "General Hammond sent us out here to investigate a break-in. He said we were to dust for prints and the like."

"I need to see your ID, lieutenant" Sam told him.

"Yes, ma'am" he agreed with a slight blush of embarrassment at needing to be reminded.

Only after she'd checked the identification of all three did she nod slightly to the man behind the door.

Jack safetied his weapon as Sam pushed the door wider allowing the three entry into his home.

"Colonel O'Neill," the young officer, Harrison, greeted him as he stepped through the door. "Is there anything obvious missing, sir?"

"My grandchildren," Jack growled at the younger man. He turned to Sam saying, "I'm going to check on Charlie." Leaving Sam to deal with the investigators General Hammond had sent, Jack followed his son into the study where he found Charlie busily at work on the computer. "Charlie?" Jack asked from the doorway. "What are you doing?"

The dance of his fingers across the keyboard didn't slow as Charlie answered, "Robbing a bank."

Jack quickly shut the door behind him. "What?!"

"Relax, Dad" Charlie said as he continued his manipulations of the data on the computer screen in front of him. "Harry's not going to report that someone stole his stolen money."

"You're stealing Harry's money? Why?" Jack asked. He still wasn't too keen on the former NID officer, but Charlie himself had been the one to convince Jack that the man could be trusted.

"Call it an incentive," the younger O'Neill replied.

Jack watched over Charlie's shoulder as his son accessed the same website where he'd previously contacted Harry. Charlie sent a message to 'Wells Fargo' telling him to meet 'Butch and Sundance' and naming a time and place. "They're going to be watching the house," Jack pointed out to his son as he followed Charlie down the stairs into the basement. Sam came to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jack having fallen into step behind them as the two men went into the basement. He headed down to the area of the basement he'd assembled into his workbench. It was carefully screened from casual view by the assorted junk you'd expect to find in a basement. He snorted with derision when he found his small work area in disarray and several half completed pieces missing, not that it mattered because they hadn't been real. He'd left those pieces conspicuously placed on the workbench. Jack and Sam watched Charlie pull various bits of equipment from hiding places spread around the corner of the junk filled basement he'd made into his workbench. 

"I know," Charlie agreed as he pulled a cardboard box from the middle of a stack of similar boxes. He dug through the bits and pieces of broken sports equipment jumbled inside it and pulled out a pair of worn kneepads. A second later, Charlie removed the throw-away cell phones he'd tucked inside them. "I'll have to lose them on the way," Charlie told them. "Encrypted."

"Want some company?" Jack asked as he examined the phone Charlie handed him trying to discern the modifications his son had made. He was afraid Charlie would want to do this with only Harry Maybourne for help. While Jack was willing to believe Harry wasn't a totally bad guy, he still didn't trust him, especially not when it came to Charlie and his grandchildren.

Charlie nodded though accepting Jack's presence. "Mom, it'll be easier to lose them in your car," Charlie suggested.

Sam sighed. "The keys are on the hook in the kitchen," she told him. "I guess I'm holding the fort here?" she asked. She gave him the Sig Sauer Jack had handed her earlier. An identical weapon was tucked into the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back. 

"Yeah, think you can do a little digging for me?" Charlie asked over his shoulder. 

"What do you need?"

Charlie was already writing information on a sheet of paper. "I need to know every piece of property around Colorado Springs that these individuals and corporations own," he told her. "They're NID fronts." Charlie quickly moved the boxes and other bits of junk that hid one particular box. He handed several bundles to his father who then followed him back up the stairs. Charlie found the men from the base dusting the living room for prints. "Gentlemen, we could use a little help," he said.

"Name it, sir" one of the airman said.

"We have orders to assist you in any way possible," the lieutenant in charge informed Charlie then added, "without breaking any laws."

"Just a few traffic rules," Captain O'Neill assured the junior officer. "Finish what you're doing while we get ready."

"Civvies?" Jack asked anticipating his son's next order.

Charlie nodded as he bounded up the stairs to change into less conspicuous clothing for their meeting with Harry. When he came back down the stairs a few minutes later wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt and jacket, Sam was on the phone and the investigative team was packing their equipment. From what she said, Charlie realized Sam was reporting to General Hammond. When she hung up, she turned back towards them. "Chuck's on his way over with Sara. I'm going to need to go back to the SGC to use the computers there to get the information Charlie wants," she explained after she hung up. "They'll man things here." Sam let the investigators out the front door then joined them in the kitchen where she helped carry their bags to the garage where her small sports car was parked. She gave Jack and Charlie each a hug. "Keep me updated," she commanded.

Jack nodded then gave her a quick kiss. "We'll check in every ninety minutes," he promised.

Sam nodded and gave his hand a final squeeze before moving back to press the button that would raise the garage door.

Charlie was behind the wheel when the car pulled out of the garage and onto the street. The men from the SGC pulled their larger SUV in behind them, and behind them two other cars joined the line. Almost as soon as the other two cars pulled in behind the SUV, Jack got a call on his cell from one of the soldiers following them. "Yeah, we saw," Jack confirmed. "Just follow us for now. I'll tell you what to do when it's time." It was only another minute or so before Charlie turned into a narrow alley behind a row of houses. The road they turned off of was one of the busier streets in town. There was no way the two chase cars would be able to back out onto the main street quickly enough to catch up. "Are they both following?" Jack asked into the phone. After hearing the reply he nodded to his son. Now all they had to do was keep them from going forward. "Okay. We're going to floor it," Jack said into the phone. "When we do, slam on your brakes and shut of your engine." Jack listened for a moment then turned to Charlie and ordered, "Gun it." It was the order Charlie had been waiting for. The gas pedal touched the floorboards and the tires squealed as Sam's little sports car shot forward out of the alley. Behind them, the SUV came to an abrupt halt blocking the alley. Jack glanced back just in time to see the driver of the SUV improving on his orders by throwing the keys to the vehicle directly into traffic. A few more blocks up, Charlie pulled into a parking garage. The little sports car wound its way towards the roof. "More surprises?" Jack asked.

"Better safe than sorry," Charlie answered pulling into a parking space next to a familiar non-descript sedan. As he climbed out, Charlie greeted the two men waiting for them having arranged for this meeting while he changed into his civilian clothes. "Nice of you to join us."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Daniel replied as he helped Charlie and Jack transfer the bags from the trunk of Sam's car to his own. 

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed.

"Where to?" Daniel asked once they were all settled into his car. 


	12. Catch

Ten minutes later the four men climbed out of Daniel's sedan and headed towards the bench in the park where Charlie had told Harry to meet him. Not wanting them to be conspicuous Charlie had thought ahead and thrown a football into one of the bags they'd brought with them. Under the pretense of a game of catch, they spread out covering the area around the bench and waited. 

"Mind if I join the game?" Harry asked in a deceptively friendly voice as he walked towards Charlie down the asphalt path.

"Let's take a break," Charlie called to the others as he threw one last pass to Teal'c. He then jogged over to the bench and dropped onto it.

"Where's my money, O'Neill?" Harry demanded as soon as Jack joined them.

"You're asking the wrong O'Neill, Harry" Jack informed the bearded man not even trying to conceal his smirk.

Harry turned to glare at Charlie then. "My money," he ground out between clenched teeth.

"You get your money back when I get my kids back," Charlie told him in a tone that brooked no disagreement. "Call it an incentive."

"It's blackmail!" Harry disagreed.

"Okay, call it blackmail," Charlie agreed apparently without any concern for the murderous glare Maybourne shot his way.

"Now are you done complaining?" Daniel asked. "We're wasting time."

"There's nothing I can tell you, Captain" Harry told the younger O'Neill.

As Teal'c watched impassively, Jack and Daniel managed to pry Charlie's hands from around Harry's windpipe quickly enough to keep him from breaking it, but the ex-NID operative was still left gasping on the ground. Daniel threw the pictures Cassie had taken at the park on the ground directly under Harry's nose. "I'd reconsider that answer if I were you, Harry" Charlie suggested. The tone of his voice was friendly enough, but it didn't match the determined anger in his eyes.

"What happened to Uncle Harry?" Maybourne asked.

"Just because I consider you family doesn't mean I ignore the fact that you're....morally challenged, let's say," Charlie informed the older man.

"Morally challenged," Jack repeated. "I like that one. Don't you, Danny?"

"It's accurate enough," Daniel agreed.

"Funny, Jack" Harry snarled. "What kind of criminal did you raise?"

"Apparently a better one than you," Jack chortled, "because he's the one with the money."

"You're enjoying this," Harry accused.

"Yes," Teal'c answered on behalf of his teammates. Teal'c's smug expression was only a shadow of his teammates, but it was clearly visible nonetheless.

"What do want me to do?" Harry asked giving in to the inevitable.

"Where would the NID take them?" Charlie demanded.

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "They've locked me out completely since I helped Jack with Teal'c's little problem."

"There's got to be something you know, Harry!" Jack protested.

"The safe houses I knew about are all gone," Harry retorted. "I am persona non grata, Jack."

"There has to be something, Harry" Charlie coaxed the older man. "Give me a place to start!"

"I don't know!" Harry hissed back. "Don't you think I want to help you? Christ, O'Neill! There are some things even I can't stomach."

"What about their computers?" Jack demanded. "Could you hack in again like with Kinsey?"

"I can't get past security, Jack. We needed the Senator's password last time to get as far as we did, remember?" Harry reminded him.

"You've got the IP address though?" Charlie asked.

"Well, yeah" Harry confirmed, "but what good is that."

"Harry, Harry, Harry" Jack admonished. "How do you think Charlie stole your money?"

"Hacking banks is easy compared to the NID, Jack" Maybourne scoffed.

"I can get in," Charlie stated with confidence. He grabbed a handful of Maybourne's jacket at the shoulder and dragged the other man with him as he headed back to the parking lot.

"Where we going?" Daniel asked as he along with Jack and Teal'c jogged to catch up.

"No tell motel," Charlie told him. "We need access to someplace to plug in the laptop and a phone."

"Look, I'll give you the address. You don't need me with you," Harry whined as he tried to pull away from Charlie's grip.

"We might need you later," Jack disagreed as he grabbed Harry's other arm. "I want you where I can find you again, Harry," he decided as he opened the door to the backseat of Daniel's car. Harry looked like he might protest, but Jack spoke before he could open his mouth. "Get. In," he said speaking softly but with a force that left no doubt that he would back up his command with force if necessary. Standing beside the senior O'Neill, Teal'c raised an eyebrow to his non-existent hairline as he stared balefully at Maybourne.

Harry got in the car.


	13. Mary Kay Calling

"Room 116," Charlie instructed Daniel as he settled back into the front passenger seat after paying cash to rent the room from a third rate hotel just off the highway. It was the kind of hotel that frequently rented rooms by the hour. Charlie had rented the room for the week. It would give them a base of operations to work from where they wouldn't have to worry quite as much about picking up another tail. Daniel nodded as he put the car into gear. He followed Charlie's directions to the rear of the hotel where he pulled into the parking space directly in front of room 116. Charlie didn't even wait for Daniel to turn off the ignition before opening his car door. He had the hotel room door open and was sweeping the place with a practiced eye before the others were even out of the car. He returned outside just as Daniel was opening the trunk of the car to grab the bag containing his laptop. "It's clear," he reported to the other men as they followed him inside. "I make no guarantees about how clean it is," Charlie muttered as his father scooted past him earning him a strained chuckle.

Sandwiched as he was between Jack and Teal'c, Maybourne had no choice but to follow the others into the room carrying the bag Teal'c had shoved into his stomach. "Sit down, Harry" Jack commanded as he dropped the bags he carried onto one of the two beds in the room. Harry did as ordered after dropping the bag Teal'c had given him next to the ones Jack had dropped. He chose to sit on one of the two chairs tucked around the small table in the room. Charlie had already commandeered the other chair and was busy unpacking the laptop Daniel had brought from its case. The elder O'Neill and Teal'c were unpacking some other equipment. The first few pieces were easily recognizable to Maybourne as night-vision gear and field communications radios. As Jack O'Neill continued to pull bits and pieces from the bags on the king size bed, Harry realized he was looking at a basic field kit for a small spec ops force. 

"Where did you get all this?" Harry demanded. He had a hard time believing that a goody two-shoes like Jack O'Neill would know how to get hold of this stuff except through proper channels.

"Mary Kay," Jack snapped at Harry at the same time he glared at his son.

"Marcus says 'Hi,' Harry" Charlie said without taking his attention away from the computer in front of him. Charlie connected the mouse to the back of the laptop then pressed the button above the keyboard to power it up.

"You!" Harry growled at the youngest member of the group holed up in the run down hotel room. "You used _**my **_black market contacts to buy this stuff?!"

"I owe you fifteen grand, by the way," Charlie informed Harry still without looking away from the computer on the table.

"You charged this stuff to my account!" Harry screamed slamming his hand down beside the laptop with enough force to make the table bounce.

"The Air Force only gave me five grand in resettlement funds, Uncle Harry" Charlie explained with a tone of voice used to explain something to a very small child. "They arranged for me to have some very good credit, but Marcus doesn't take American Express."

"Hey! You really are a better thief than Harry," Jack teased his son not even attempting to hide his enjoyment of Harry's anger.

Before Harry could protest further Charlie said, "Consider it reparation for your part in Conrad's little scheme."

That sobered the three members of SG-1 present. The shift in the atmosphere of the room wasn't lost on Maybourne who wisely chose to say nothing. The incident with Conrad happened before the sudden appearance of Charlie O'Neill and his children, but the other three men could vividly remember the race to save Carter and how close they'd come to being too late. Daniel had a more forgiving nature than O'Neill and Teal'c, though. He just wanted to watch while they cut Harry's heart out with a spork instead of participating in the actual process himself. "It wasn't my fault!" Harry protested.

"Sell it somewhere else, Uncle Harry" Charlie said even though he still believed that Harry could be redeemed. Before Harry could protest his innocence more, the sound of the modem dialing pulled Charlie's attention back to the laptop. "I need that IP address," Charlie demanded.

Harry didn't respond at first until Teal'c took a menacing step forward. Harry glared at the Jaffa to show he wasn't really intimidated, but quickly rattled off the requested number. 

"There was a pizza joint across the street," Daniel said. "I'm going to go get us some food. What does everyone want?"

"I'm not hungry," Charlie responded without looking up from the screen. His fingers never slowed their dance across the keyboard either.

"Get us a large pepperoni, breadsticks, some wings, and a couple 2-liters," Jack said knowing they needed to eat. They'd all worked more than a full day already, and he knew if he put something in Charlie's hand his son would eat it.

"I would prefer the works, O'Neill," Teal'c disagreed.

"A large pepperoni and a large works," Jack amended knowing Teal'c could likely finish off the whole pizza without help.

By the time Daniel returned a half hour later bearing their dinner, Jack was speaking into a cell phone. Charlie was on a second cell phone while at the same time he worked on the laptop. Listening for half a second was all it took for Daniel to understand Jack was speaking to the general while Charlie collaborated with Sam on breaking into the NID's computers. Harry's curiosity had apparently gotten the better of him because he stood behind Charlie watching over the younger man's shoulder.

Daniel laid the two pizza boxes on top of the battered dresser next to the small plastic bucket someone, probably Teal'c, had already filled with ice. There was a drug store next to the pizza join, so while he waited for the food Daniel had done a little shopping. He'd bought paper plates and plastic cups for them to eat off off then swept through the aisle of first aid supplies like a tornado. Those supplies he'd stashed in the trunk of his car before returning to the hotel room. He didn't think either O'Neill was ready to contemplate the implications of those purchases and seeing them would be a distraction they couldn't afford.

Jack loaded a plate and placed it on the table next to the laptop on Charlie's left. Daniel guessed Jack must be on speaker phone as his comments were no longer directed solely at General Hammond. "Here," Jack said thrusting the phone at Daniel. "Try to calm Doc down will ya?"

Daniel was still on the phone with his distraught fiancée when Charlie crowed, "I'm in!" It didn't seem possible to the others, two fingered typists all, but the speed of his typing increased as Charlie began digging his way deeper into the NID computer systems. Maybourne wasn't the only one looking over Charlie's shoulder now. He was moving so quickly through the screens that Daniel was only catching about half of the information on the screen before it was gone again. Inside he was screaming at the younger O'Neill to slow down afraid that they would miss something at this speed, but he held his tongue trusting Charlie's computer expertise. Suddenly an alarm began sounding form the tiny speakers built into the laptop. "Get out! Get out!" Charlie shouted into the headset he'd attached to the cell phone. "They've started a trace," he said. "Get out now!" He closed the windows on the screen in front of him one by one until finally clicking on the icon that would disconnect his internet connection. With that done, Charlie heaved out a long breath of air releasing the tension that had built as he worked. He reached for the pizza on the plate beside him. After taking a large bite, Charlie said, "Now let's check out our bounty."


	14. Testing 123

Cassie jumped to her feet as the door scraped open once more. This time her movements woke J.J. who instinctively moved behind her. From behind her legs, he peered at the guards and the man who had taken his blood with eyes full of mistrust and fear.

"You need to come with us, Ms. Frasier" the man in the lab coat announced.

"What about the kids?" Cassie asked.

"They stay here for now," he answered her as he stepped to the side and motioned her forward. "Move," he commanded.

"No!" J.J. yelled. "No! Cassie stay wit' us!" he demanded. "Cassie!"

Cassie eyed the three men standing in the doorway trying to decide what she should do. Finally, deciding they might harm the children if she refused, Cassie knelt down on one knee next to J.J. who immediately threw himself into her arms. "It's going to be okay, baby" she whispered in his ear. "I need you to be brave. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"No!" J.J. yelled tightening his arms around her neck.

"I have to go with these men, J.J." she told him as she pried his arms from around her and as gently as she could pushed him back down on the pallet. "Now show me how brave you can be," she said wiping the tears from his cheeks, "so I can tell Daddy when he comes for us." As she backed out of the room, Cassie couldn't help but worry that J.J. was about to hyperventilate from the force of his crying, but she knew it was better to let that happen if it meant getting the guards away from _her_children.

Cassie followed the man in the lab coat down the hall with the two thugs trailing behind her.

"The test results have come back" the man she had privately nicknamed Mengela Jr. told her. "Congratulations, you're a mother," he smirked.

"So now what?" Cassie demanded.

"We're going to run some more tests," Mengela Jr. informed her.

The next few hours passed in a blur for Cassie as Mengela Jr. and his cohorts performed numerous familiar tests on her. _ 'MRI, CAT scan, EEG,'_ Cassie ticked the list off in her head one by one. They were the same tests her mother had performed when she'd begun to develop those strange powers last year. Her mom had repeated the tests again and again in the weeks and months afterward to assure herself and her superiors that whatever had been happening to Cassie, Nirrti had stopped it.

She was escorted back into Mengela Junior's lab after the MRI by the same young guard who had brought her juice for the kids the previous night. He kept a tight grip on her elbow as he led her through the corridors. Cassie kept her head facing forward as they walked using her peripheral vision to note doors and hallways they walked past. When the guard finally pushed her forward into the lab he maneuvered her over to a hospital bed. The lab-coated sociopath sitting in an office chair behind a cheap metal desk didn't even look up as he pointed to the bed and said, "Change."

Cassie followed the line of sight to where he pointed and noticed a pile of neatly folded cloth. She picked it up and shook it out to reveal a standard hospital gown. "I don't think so!" Cassie chuffed indignantly.

The nameless scientist finally looked up from the papers on his desk. "Is there a problem?" he asked.

"How about a little privacy?" Cassie demanded glaring at the guard lounging beside the door who wasn't quite quick enough wiping the leer from his face.

"You may go behind the screen," he magnanimously offered pointing to the far corner of the room, "but I warn you not to abuse my trust."

As she stepped behind the cloth screen, Cassie vowed to herself that she would abuse his trust at the earliest available opportunity that wouldn't get her killed in the process. She had to get back to the kids before anything else. So, for now at least, Cassie would continue to cooperate with her captors. When she reappeared from behind the screen, Cassie carried her clothes draped over one arm while with her other hand she held the gaping back of the hospital gown closed.

Mengela Jr. graced her with a brief glance before returning his attention to the papers on his desk. "Put your clothes on the counter beside you then sit on the gurney," he ordered distractedly.

Cassie saw that her hands shook as she placed her clothes on the counter as he asked. The knot that had seemed to take up permanent residence in her stomach since the team of men broke through the door into Jack's house suddenly felt more like a boulder than a rock. She was very afraid of what this man meant to do to her. The only thing that kept Cassie from total panic was an even greater fear for her babies. To them she was Aunt Cassie but J.J. and Samantha were hers as far as she was concerned even if she hadn't given birth to them herself. She hadn't needed that bastard's confirmation to know that. In her life, Cassie had been blessed with the love of three mothers: her birth mother, her adopted mother Janet, and Sam. Just a few hours ago as she sat against the wall of the cell with a child sleeping on each side of her, her thoughts had turned to the two things she'd learned from her two Earth mothers about being a good mother that applied to her situation. From Sam, she'd learned that a mother would die for her child. From Janet, she'd learned that a mother would kill for the exact same reason. Cassie knew she would follow their example now if need be. She would do anything to protect her children, even if it meant she had to kill...or even die. Cassie hoisted herself up onto the edge of the gurney then closed her eyes to say a silent prayer to whatever true god or gods that might be listening. Running now would accomplish nothing. The guard stationed at the door and the weapon holstered on his hip made sure of that. Whatever this Dr. Jekyl wannabe had in mind, she would just have to endure it until rescue or a chance to escape presented itself.

"Your mother writes excellent reports," the scientist told her as he rose from behind the desk bringing the folder in his hand with him as he approached her. As he studied her, Cassie took a moment to study him. He spoke with a noticeable German accent. His closely cut reddish-brown hair receded from his forehead adding to the roundness of his face. Though he appeared to be in his mid to late forties, he looked to be in decent shape for a civilian, not that he held a candle to Teal'c, Daniel, or Colonel Jack. "Can you guess what this report is about?" he asked.

"Can we dispense with the soap opera style drama and just get on with it?" Cassie demanded.

The scientist raised an eyebrow at her impatience. "It's a report about you, my dear" he told her as he dropped the report on the edge of the counter that ran along one wall. "About your fascinating illness of a year ago." From the drawer of the cabinet below, he withdrew two disposable rubber gloves and a hypodermic needle then reached into the small under-counter refrigerator nearby to remove a small vial.

"What is that?" Cassie demanded jumping down from the exam bed placing it between her and the scientist.

"Growth hormone," he answered totally unconcerned with her sudden resistance. Catching the eye of the guard posted at the door, he jerked his head to indicate Cassandra.

Cassie backed away from the two men as she asked, "What are you going to do with that?"

"Inject you, of course" Mengela Jr. told her. "I find it difficult to believe your mother really believed Nirrti had cured you, but then she was desperate wasn't she."

"Nirrti did cure me," Cassie insisted. "It's gone."

"It's dormant," he corrected. "It's in your DNA. Do you really think Nirrti modified your genetic structure with that little hand device? No, she merely forced you into...remission, if you will. So now we will see if we can awaken it once again."

"NO!" Cassie screamed shoving a rolling tray of instruments in front of the two men in a futile attempt to get away. The guard's longer reach allowed him to grab her as she surged by him. Within moments, they had her strapped to the exam bed despite her struggles. "Please," Cassie begged as she jerked at the padded leather straps wrapped securely around her wrists. "Please don't do this. It will kill me!"

"It is for the greater good," the scientist pontificated as he expertly slipped the needle into her arm and pressed the plunger. "For the advancement of mankind."

"Bastard!" she screamed as she struggled against the restraints. "Fucking Nazi bastard! You're dead! My family will find you, and when they do, you're dead!"

"We shall see," the scientist murmured apparently unconcerned, as he began attaching various monitors to her.


	15. Riggs and Murtaugh

It took Charlie and Sam several hours to sort through the data they'd 'recovered' from the NID computers. When they were done though, they'd narrowed down the possible locations where Cassie and the kids were being held to only five. They all felt the press of time, and so the plan was to split up to scout the locations. Once they'd determined the exactly location, they'd converge on the site and plan the assault. Daniel wanted them to call in the SGC at that point. Charlie didn't want any help from the SGC. Charlie wanted to send a message to the NID. One that he couldn't if there was any official support for the rescue operation. To most, Teal'c's expression would be downright inscrutable, but even Harry could tell that Teal'c was most definitely behind Charlie's idea. Harry didn't want the SGC involved because Harry didn't want to get sent back to Leavenworth.

"You can't possibly be thinking about doing this, Jack!" Daniel hissed as he realized he was quite possibly alone in his opinion.

"This crossed the line, Daniel" Jack told his friend. "They can't get away with this."

"You're not judge, jury, and executioner, Jack!" Daniel protested.

"I have been before," Jack reminded him.

"And so have I," Charlie added. "The government had their chance to clean up the NID. They're kidnapping children now, Daniel! My children!"

"Do you think if you capture this cell, you'll stop the whole organization, Jackson?" Maybourne asked. "That didn't work before. As much as it pains me to agree, they're right. You need to send a message."

"And what message are we going to be sending?" Daniel demanded.

"We'll worry about this after we get Cassie and the kids back," Charlie told them. "We're wasting time they don't have. I'll take Harry and check out this place," Charlie said.

"Uh uh," Jack disagreed. "Daniel's with you, and you're taking this one on the edge of town."

"Dad," Charlie protested.

"No," Jack firmly denied before Charlie could even voice his protest. "You and Harry loose alone is just asking for trouble. You're not going in by yourself, and even though I trust Daniel to make sure you don't do anything stupid, the ordinance is coming with me and Teal'c. Get there, check it out, call in, then wait!" Charlie wanted to object. Jack could see it. 'Okay, object was an understatement,' Jack admitted to himself. Charlie wanted to punch his lights out, but he had to cut his son some slack for keeping it together this well. "Charlie," Jack said laying a steadying hand on his son's shoulder, "you need to let me be in charge right now."

Charlie glared for several long tense seconds before nodding his acquiescence. It was begrudgingly given, but Jack decided to take what he could get.

"Take Teal'c and Harry with you and go rent us another car from the place down the street," Jack ordered his son. "I'll call your mom and Chuck and have them check out the two locations closest to the base."

"Okay," Charlie agreed as he pulled Harry up from his seat on the bed. He kept a firm grip on Harry's arm as he led the protesting fugitive out the door trailed by Teal'c.

As soon as the door shut, Jack turned to Daniel and began issuing orders. "When you go, don't let him out of your sight whatever you do," Jack told his teammate. "Don't let him go in alone, no matter what you have to do to stop him."

"Jack, I couldn't take Charlie in a fight on my best day," Daniel protested. "Even with his hands tied behind his back. He's as good as you."

"He's better," Jack corrected his friend with pride and a grudgingly small bit of admiration in his voice. "And twenty years younger," he added.

"Maybe you should send Teal'c with him," Daniel suggested.

"I'm not altogether certain that even Teal'c could take him today," Jack admitted. "Besides, the odds are even that Charlie could convince Teal'c to help him, and then we've got Riggs and Murtaugh going in without weapons instead of Rambo by himself."

Daniel snorted in appreciative agreement with Jack's pop culture laced assessment.

"If I take the toys with us, I think Charlie will wait," Jack said. "And you can be pretty damned persuasive when you need to be."

"I don't like this, Jack" Daniel told his friend.

"Got a better idea?" Jack asked and when Daniel remained silent continued, "then we do it my way." 


End file.
